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[We start in one of our sports science labs, where two student staff in matching 'Sport and Exercise Science' uniform supervise over a patient wearing breathing apparatus, beside a computer.
We hear the voiceover soon revealed as Mark Faghy, Professor of Clinical Exercise Science who speaks to us directly from another sports science lab]
Mark:
So our long-Covid research journey started in the initial stages of 2020, when the pandemic was first declared by the World Health Organisation. What we were trying to set out to do was to understand people's journey through their recovery after having an infection with Covid 19, but it became very apparent in those initial stages that people were not making those recoveries or people were having long term impacts that were affecting their ability to live an ordinary life.
So we set out to really try and understand the pathophysiology or the mechanisms of what was driving that chronic condition and how it was impacting a patient's ability to engage with their daily life.
[We see a shot in a hospital setting of a nurse with a clipboard moving around a patient in a chair. Back on campus in the lab, we see a shot of Mark talking to a patient who is having blood drawn. We see a close up of of a nova biomedical device being used for blood measurement. We see an award trophy for the Nature awards "Inclusive Health Research Winner 2024: Profiling the determinants of long Covid." We see Mark in the hospital talking to a patient, Julie Buffey.
We switch interview to Julie Buffey, long Covid clinical trials patient]
Julie:
At first, it didn't seem that bad. It felt like a cold - and then it felt like a weird cold.
As soon as I tried to return to work, I had dizziness all the time. I found it difficult literally to focus and balance, and that really hasn't gone away.
[We see shots of Julie engaging in the measurement activity - she has a pulse monitor on her finger, she listens to a briefing.
We next switch to Ryan Cawley, long Covid clinical trials patient]
Ryan:
I went to the doctor, my GP and said I've been struggling. I feel really tired all the time. I feel like I can't concentrate. My brain's really dazed, I feel weak. I wasn't exercising like normal so that's when I got diagnosed [with] long Covid.
It was just about getting through the day, really. And if you ever overdid it, you'd have what was referred to as a crash. You weren’t refreshed from your sleep. You were just sort of like, completely shattered. I can't describe how debilitating it's been, really. And how frustrating as someone in the 30s? You know, my dad, who's in his 60s, had ten times as more energy as me. So it's like, this isn't right.
[We see Ryan having blood drawn in the sport science lab.
As we switch back to Mark, we see footage of Julie participating in a measure of exertion on an exercise bike while Mark and other student staff observe her stats on a screen marked for 'Cardiopulmonary Exercise Testing']
Mark:
We discovered that viral persistence was a probable or likely pathology that was contributing to the long Covid presentation in patients. And that led us to developing ERASE, which is the first in the UK trial to test antiviral medications, to see if we can alleviate the symptoms or the symptom presentation, or people living with long Covid.
[We see shots from the hospital of a doctor interacting with another clinical trials patient, and Mark talking to Julie.
We switch to Callum Thomas, PhD student]
Callum:
So we've got a range of equipment, as you can see in this lab here, that really help me with my PhD and supporting people living with long Covid to find out a little bit what causes their symptoms, what causes this heightened malaise response?
[We see another clinical trials patient participating in the same exercise bike activity; the nova biomedical lactate plus device being used to measure blood, and an ABL9 device being used to analyse a blood sample. We see Julie adjusting and having wires attached to a breathing mask, and Ryan exhaling into a small device]
Mark:
We know long Covid is a multi-system condition, so it's important for us to have that multi-system focus when we're doing these investigations. So specifically, we like to look at how the lungs are working and how the heart is working and how the muscles are working in isolation, but also in coordination with each other.
[The next shots sync with Callum's description of what measurements are required. We see footsteps walking down a corridor; Julie peddling on the exercise bike; more blood being analysed. Another patient on the exercise bike, and staff monitoring the Cardio-Vascular Response information]
Callum:
Just from doing a little bit of walking at their own pace to respiratory measures, all at the pace of the participant. And we also do some blood tests there as well.
So we get them involved with some cycling assessments separated by 24 hours to try and observe that that heightened symptom exacerbation, but in a controlled way.
Mark:
We do a lot of work with the patients to try and understand them and their long Covid, and then we send them to the hospital where they have five days of intravenous infusions.
The intervention we're using is an antiviral medication that's currently licensed for use in the UK for people who are admitted to hospital with an acute infection of Covid 19.
But we know the majority of people aren’t actually admitted to hospital now and so they're not able to access that treatment. So what we're doing with this trial is bringing this drug to people who haven't been admitted to hospital to try and see if that can give them some resolution from their symptoms.
[We see a member of staff going through participation forms with a patient, we then see Julie in hospital having an IV put in her arm, we see drugs being prepared for administration via the IV, and finally the drugs going into the clinical trials patients IVs. One of the patients reads and waits as the medicine is slowly administered.
We switch to Alicia Heys, masters student]
Alicia:
Working in this study has helped me realise how much Sport Science can be used to help clinical exercise populations as well.
It's opened up my eyes to see the different side of Sport Science: it's not all about athletes, and it's not all about working as hard as you can to improve your performance - it’s to help basic living and walking up the stairs and tasks that people often take for granted.
[We see Alicia working with one of the clinical trials patients in the lab, as he is briefed on 'Rating of perceived exertion' scores and blood being taken as the patient smiles.]
Julie:
My sister told me about the ERASE study, and I very fortunately got onto this trial. I was really pleased and I'm lucky to get on it.
I'm hoping that this trial will make a bit of a difference.
[We see Julie completing participation forms in the lab, and later in hospital getting her IV prepared by nurses]
Ryan:
The main difference I've noticed since taking the medication is I feel like my lungs completely cleared, so my breathing feels much better.
I've been able to do more in terms of more activity, not having to rest as much, and one of the biggest changes has been my sleep as well. Now I wake up and I feel like it's restored my energy a bit.
I feel like the treatment has hit the root cause of the problem. I’m feeling much more hopeful about the future. And yeah, it's given me my life back really is the way I see it.
[We see Ryan talking to a member of staff who monitors him walking up and down a corridor at pace]
Mark:
In terms of what the impact and what we're hoping to achieve with this trial - at the moment, we're testing the feasibility of using this medication in those kind of patients in community settings.
If that's positive, then we're able to progress to what's called a randomised controlled trial, which is where we can test the efficacy of this drug against other medications or against a placebo.
And that will allow us to start making headway in the development of treatment plans that can support people living with long Covid.
[We see student staff taking Julie's blood; transporting a 'Blood products in transit' bag to a lab, where a centrifuge is used before samples are extracted into small pipettes. The samples are labelled for ERASE, before being transferred into cold storage.
We end on five partner logos:
- University of Derby
- NHS University Hospitals of Derby and Burton - NHS Foundation Trust
- Aston University Birmingham UK
- University of Exeter
- University of Plymouth
With a message to 'Discover more at derby.ac.uk/research']