The low-dose rapamycin trial is led by Drs. Proal and Putrino at the CoRE Clinic.
Medford, MA , May 29, 2026 — PolyBio Research Foundation today announced new funding from the Balvi Fund to accelerate a clinical trial investigating low-dose rapamycin as a potential treatment for Long COVID. The funding will support an open-label extension phase that will allow all participants – including those initially randomized to placebo – to receive low-dose rapamycin during a defined follow-up period, an approach expected to improve willingness to enroll while preserving the rigor of the randomized controlled phase of the trial. The support will also allow study coordinators to conduct home visits for certain participants to collect blood samples, helping expand access for individuals who are too ill or geographically constrained to consistently travel to study sites.
The Balvi Fund is a direct giving and scientific investment fund established by Vitalik Buterin to support high-impact projects in biosecurity, pandemic prevention, and public health.
“Vitalik and the Balvi Fund have been incredible supporters of both PolyBio and the broader Long COVID research space over the years,” said Dr. Amy Proal, President of PolyBio Research Foundation. “This new grant continues that commitment in a meaningful way by helping us run a stronger and more accessible clinical trial while generating the kind of mechanistic immune data needed to move the field toward targeted treatments.”
The trial is based on a mechanistic hypothesis: that low-dose rapamycin may recalibrate aspects of the immune response in a way that improves the body’s ability to suppress chronic viral activity. This approach draws on evidence from the healthspan and aging field, where analogs of rapamycin have been shown to enhance antiviral interferon signaling, modulate T cell exhaustion, and improve antibody responses to vaccination.
To directly investigate these effects in Long COVID, the lab of Akiko Iwasaki at Yale University is conducting deep immune profiling on participant blood samples collected before and after treatment. These analyses are designed to determine whether rapamycin increases interferon signaling, reverses features of T cell exhaustion, and strengthens antiviral immune responses—data that could help clarify how the drug should be deployed in Long COVID and related chronic conditions.
By adding an open-label extension, the enhanced trial is positioned to generate high-resolution data on how rapamycin shapes immune function in Long COVID. These findings will help determine whether—and in which patient subsets—the drug may have therapeutic value, advancing the field toward more precise, mechanism-based treatment strategies.
About PolyBio Research Foundation
PolyBio Research Foundation is a 501(c)(3) organization advancing research on how viral, bacterial, and parasitic infections drive chronic disease and aging. We build collaborative projects that identify, diagnose, and treat root causes of infection-associated chronic illness.