Two widely available drugs — colchicine and the antihistamine combo famotidine-loratadine — provided modest, short-term reductions in fatigue for long COVID patients, but the benefits faded after stopping treatment. A large UK clinical trial published in The Lancet Infectious Diseases found neither drug produced lasting improvement beyond 12 weeks. Researchers say the findings don't support widespread use but do help build the evidence base for future long COVID treatment trials.
Two inexpensive, commonly available drugs showed only marginal short-term benefits for long COVID fatigue in a large UK clinical trial — and those gains didn't stick. The STIMULATE-ICP trial, published in The Lancet Infectious Diseases, enrolled 778 adults receiving care at specialized long COVID clinics in England and tested colchicine (an anti-inflammatory used for gout), a combination of famotidine and loratadine (a heartburn drug and antihistamine), and rivaroxaban (a blood thinner) against usual specialist care alone over 12 weeks.
Both colchicine and famotidine-loratadine produced statistically significant but clinically marginal reductions in fatigue scores compared to usual care. Rivaroxaban showed no benefit at any point. Crucially, by week 24 — 12 weeks after stopping the drugs — the differences between groups had disappeared entirely. Notably, all groups improved over the trial period, suggesting that specialist long COVID care itself plays a meaningful role in symptom management.
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Why it matters: Long COVID affects an estimated 1–5% of adults worldwide, and there are currently no approved treatments. While these drugs aren't a solution, the trial provides a framework for future precision medicine trials and reinforces the value of multidisciplinary specialist care in managing long COVID symptoms.
