343108 20230827173414.0 G:(EU-Grant)101101051 101101051 CORDIS G:(EU-Call)ERC-2022-POC2 ERC-2022-POC2 CORDIS corda_____he::101101051 originalID G:(EU-Grant)101101051 Phototherapy treatment for long-term COVID-19 patients 2023-09-01 - 2025-02-28 ERC-2022-POC2 2023-09-01 2025-02-28 longCOVID-UVBtherapy d 2023-09-01 - 2025-02-28 As the number of COVID-19 cases grows worldwide, so does the number of those suffering from clinical parameters that last weeks to-months post initial recovery, termed long-COVID, with as much as 36.55% of survivors exhibiting long-lasting symptoms (e.g., weight loss, chest pain, cognitive and memory disorders, breathlessness) according to recent studies—an estimated ~157 million long-COVID adult patients worldwide to date. Clearly, this growing health problem represents a modern global medical challenge. This challenge is compounded by a knowledge gap regarding the causes and prevalence of long-COVID, leaving no effective treatments. As noted by The Lancet: “The scientific and medical communities must collaborate … and find effective treatments”. Based on findings from my ERC grant, supported by other COVID-related reports, I propose to validate a UVB radiation (phototherapy) protocol for the treatment of long-COVID patients. Our findings indicate that phototherapy induces an immunological shift that counters that of the COVID phenotype: from T helper (Th) 1 cells, which stimulate inflammation and cell-mediated immunity, to Th2 cells, which promote humoral immunity. Phototherapy is also expected to address a range of reported respiratory, cardiovascular, neurological, endocrine and metabolic long-COVID symptoms. Our PoC entails both validating via a clinical trial the proposed treatment, through a strong collaborative framework with Maccabi Healthcare Services, Israel’s second largest HMO, and conducting pre-commercialization steps to enable quick, easy dissemination on the global stage. Taken together, our value proposition is an effective, non-invasive, simple long-COVID treatment that can be implemented through already established phototherapy clinics worldwide, thereby offering immediate relief to long-COVID patients while simultaneously reducing the health and financial burden of severely overburdened health systems. oai:juser.fz-juelich.de:1012468 authority:GRANT authority I:(DE-588b)5098525-5 European Union CORDIS G CORDIS AUTHORITY oai:juser.fz-juelich.de:1012468