Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how much public funding is allocated to support UK-based research into methods to treat and cure long Covid.

The Department funds research on health and social care through the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR). Between 2020/2021 and 2024/25, the NIHR invested nearly £51 million into Long Covid research, including research into treatments. As well as funding research itself, the Department invests significantly in research expertise and capacity, specialist facilities, support services, and collaborations to support and deliver research in England, known as NIHR infrastructure.

While there has been no formal assessment of the progress of United Kingdom based research into Long Covid, it is clear that NIHR-funded research has delivered important findings. The REGAIN trial provided the first high quality evidence confirming the sustained clinical benefit and lack of harm with rehabilitation programmes for Long Covid. The NIHR has also funded research to test and compare different treatments such as antihistamines, anticoagulants, and anti-inflammatory medicines through the STIMULATE-ICP trial. The NIHR has also provided £1.1 million in funding towards the LISTEN trial, which found that the participants who received the LISTEN self-management tool intervention had greater capacity for daily activities, improved mental health, reduced fatigue impact, and increased self-efficacy.

However, there is more work to be done to find the most promising treatments, and we are actively exploring next steps for long COVID research. This includes a development award focussed on evaluating repurposed and new interventions for post-acute infection syndromes and associated conditions, including long COVID. Two projects have recently been awarded funding.