Who's working on it

The landscape

No major pharmaceutical company is developing an ME/CFS drug. The work is being done by small biotech companies, research institutes and patient-funded charities. Much of the recent progress has come via Long COVID, which has far more patients and funding. The likeliest path to a treatment is that a drug gets approved for Long COVID first and is then used for ME/CFS.

Research centres

Organisation	Focus	Status (Sept 2026)
Griffith University NCNED (Gold Coast, Australia)	TRPM3 ion channel research; LDN trials; brain waste clearance	TreatMELC LDN trial starting; mechanism studies recruiting
Deakin University / Barwon Health (Geelong, Australia)	TRI-ME trimetazidine trial	Recruiting in Victoria
Charité (Berlin, Germany)	Immunoadsorption, HBOT, inebilizumab (PIONEER), aripiprazole (PAIS-AriSE), rehab	The largest clinical trial hub in the field; German government funded
Haukeland University Hospital (Bergen, Norway)	Daratumumab (RESETME)	66-patient trial under way, closed to new applicants
Stanford (US)	PET imaging; low-dose aripiprazole clinic data	Research
Johns Hopkins (US)	Blood-brain barrier study	Under way
Brigham & Women’s Hospital (US)	Autonomic and blood flow testing	Research
University of Edinburgh / DecodeME (UK)	Genetics; blood biomarkers	Next phase: Sequence ME & Long Covid

Companies

Company	Treatment	Status (Sept 2026)
BioVie	Bezisterim (oral anti-inflammatory that reaches the brain)	Phase 2 Long COVID results in Sept 2026; Phase 3 planned
Simmaron Research (non-profit)	Low-dose rapamycin	Placebo-controlled follow-up planned for mid-2027
APTA Therapeutics (Germany)	Rovunaptabin (formerly BC007), an autoantibody neutraliser	Restarting after earlier failure; new trial planned
Mitodicure (Germany)	MDC002, targeting muscle energy and PEM	Preclinical; no human trials yet
AIM ImmunoTech	Ampligen (rintatolimod), IV	Long history; US access programme paused since Oct 2025
Fareon (Mount Sinai spin-out)	Wearable magnetic device	Long COVID randomised trial completed; pilot planned

Funders

Solve M.E. (US): funds research including Simmaron’s
Open Medicine Foundation (US/international): funds the LIFT trial (Boston), the StudyME registry and more
ME/CFS Research Foundation (Germany): €1.5M clinical funding round in 2026
ME Research UK and the ME Association (UK)
Stafford Fox Medical Research Foundation (Australia): major funder of Griffith’s LDN trials
NHMRC (Australia): funds TRI-ME and new clinical guidelines
NIH RECOVER-TLC (US): Long COVID trials
Canadian Institutes of Health Research