According to a study published in The Lancet, taking a two-week course of metformin, a safe and affordable diabetes medication, after testing positive for SARS-CoV-2, can reduce the risk of long-term COVID by 40%.

Researchers from the University of Minnesota, US, conducted the study. They included 1,126 patients who were given either metformin or an identical placebo pill after testing positive for SARS-CoV-2 between December 2020 and January 2022.

The participants were followed up for ten months, with data gathered by self-report questionnaires every 30 days. The study’s findings showed that 6.3% of participants in the metformin group reported a positive diagnosis for long-term COVID within ten months of follow-up. In contrast, 10.4% of the patients in the placebo group reported long COVID.

The results of this study coincided with the results of previously published studies, which showed that taking metformin reduced the number of emergency department visits, hospitalizations, and deaths due to COVID by 40% within two weeks of starting the treatment.

Additionally, other arms of the trial that looked at ivermectin and fluvoxamine found that neither of the two drugs prevented long COVID. 

(Source:https://www.daijiworld.com/news/newsDisplay?newsID=1088378 )