Long COVID is the fastest growing chronic health condition in human history. Experts estimate at least 100 million people currently have Long COVID. The projected economic toll is already $1 trillion dollars per year. However, the dramatic increase in disability and all-cause mortality since the pandemic implies this may be the tip of the iceberg.
COVID-19 infections leave a person susceptible to a range of new health issues, including heart attacks, strokes, cognitive deficits, and brain damage. A COVID-19 infection causes an approximate IQ loss between 3 - 9 points. Even young, healthy people experience cognitive dysfunction after mild or asymptomatic COVID-19 infections. Infections seem to accelerate early-onset dementia. The long-term effects of repeated infections are still unknown, but the data points in a concerning direction.
Traditional research funding and pharmaceutical drug development is too slow, centralized, and risk-averse to address this looming health crisis effectively. We envision a Decentralized Autonomous Organization (DAO) that unlocks the direct participation of patients, scientists, and supporters worldwide to solve this critical challenge. By encouraging rapid capital allocation, parallel adaptive trials, innovative intellectual property and licensing strategies and non-zero sum coordination mechanisms, we propose a framework for dramatically accelerating a cure for Long COVID.
COVID-19 has reshaped the world, but its most enduring legacy may be a chronic health crisis that has only begun to unfold. While the acute phase of infection is often mild or short-lived, a substantial proportion of patients continue to experience debilitating symptoms long after the virus clears—commonly referred to as Long COVID. Estimates suggest that at least 100 million people globally are affected, making it the largest new chronic health condition in modern history.
But the scope of the problem may be even larger than current estimates suggest. Studies indicate that 20% of recovered COVID-19 patients harbor residual viral proteins—a figure that climbs to 40% among those diagnosed with Long COVID—raising concerns about silent reservoirs of SARS-CoV-2 that could drive chronic inflammation and disease in millions more who may appear asymptomatic today.
Despite its scale, Long COVID remains poorly understood. Researchers are uncovering mounting evidence that persistent SARS-CoV-2 reservoirs—hidden pockets of virus or viral remnants in tissues—may drive ongoing symptoms through chronic inflammation, immune dysregulation, and cellular dysfunction. These reservoirs, detected in tissues such as the gut, brain, and immune cells, may:
If persistent viral reservoirs are the root cause of Long COVID, targeting and eliminating them could lead to cures, transforming our understanding of post-viral syndromes and chronic illnesses more broadly.
Long COVID presents not only a public health emergency but also the largest pharmaceutical opportunity of the 21st century. If chronic viral persistence proves to be the central mechanism, therapies targeting reservoirs could:
A breakthrough therapy would not just cure Long COVID but potentially improve the health of billions worldwide by treating undiagnosed viral reservoirs in those presumed "recovered."
Despite the urgency, traditional research pipelines are failing Long COVID patients.
This outdated system cannot meet the scale or urgency of the crisis. We need a new approach.
Far too often, patients have little say in the research protocols, funding priorities, or data-sharing practices that ultimately shape the treatments they receive. Long COVID Labs uses a DAO model, where individuals—particularly patients—hold governance tokens ($COVID) in the Long COVID DAO that let them vote on proposals, recommend research directions, and oversee financial allocations. By elevating patients as key decision-makers, we ensure that resources flow toward meaningful, patient-centric solutions rather than projects that serve purely academic or corporate interests.
Academic and governmental funding pipelines often disadvantage emerging researchers and pioneering approaches, favoring known institutions and safe, incremental projects. This conservatism can stagnate progress, especially in emerging areas like post-viral syndromes. Long COVID Labs harnesses blockchain technology to crowdfund and direct capital with unprecedented speed and transparency. Instead of waiting years for large grants, promising research can receive funding in weeks or even days—fueling a wave of bold ideas that might otherwise be lost in red tape.
The Long COVID DAO is legally wrapped in a non-profit Swiss association with the mission of advancing research and treatments for Long COVID. Decisions approved by the DAO must align with the Long COVID Labs association's non-profit mission in order to be executed.
The DAO operates through the $COVID token, a governance token issued under Swiss law. Each $COVID token represents one vote, empowering holders to influence decisions. Proposals for actions are publicly posted, discussed within the community, and voted on by $COVID token holders.
The governance process follows established practices, including:
Once a proposal passes the voting process, the DAO takes action to implement it. Unvested governance tokens will still be eligible for voting. Further details on the voting process will be outlined in detail after the auction’s close.
There will be a total pool of 1,000,000,000 $COVID tokens. These tokens are allocated as follows:
1. Treasury reserves
Tokens held in the treasury are 45% of the total token supply, and not subject to vesting. These tokens can be allocated by DAO governance votes.
2. Core Team
The core team will receive 20% of the total token supply, subject to a four-year linear vesting schedule with a one-year cliff. This means that no tokens will be distributed to the core team during the first year (the "cliff" period). After the cliff period, ¼ of the tokens become vested with the remaining ¾ of the tokens vesting linearly over the remaining three years.
3. Core Team
Long COVID patients who participate in clinical trials, contribute data to open-source studies or other DAO initiatives will receive tokens. This 10% allocation allows the DAO to support meaningful patient governance, have a voice as to how their data is used and help influence treatments that are selected for future research.
4. Service Provider (BIO)
BIO.xyz, our Web3 service provider, will receive 7% of the total token supply with no vesting period. BIO provides essential services, including but not limited to:some text
5. Community Auction
15% of the total token supply will be auctioned during the initial token sale. These tokens will be distributed with no vesting period.
6. Ecosystem Incentives
3% of the token supply is set aside for ecosystem incentives and rewards.
Initial and Future Token Issuances
The DAO may vote to incentivize community participation through token rewards, subject to governance decisions. These rewards could be for contributions such as participating in research or clinical trials, carrying out academic studies, proposing new treatments or supporting other DAO initiatives. The specific reward structure—whether based on hours worked, tasks completed, or another method—will be finalized following the initial token sale.
The initial token sale for Long COVID Labs will occur on January 9th, 2025. The sale is structured as an auction on the BIO.xyz platform, and is subject to the terms and conditions of the BIO site. The auction will last approximately ~8 days. If the auction raises a minimum of $500,000 USD, 15% of the total $COVID tokens will be distributed at the auction’s closing price to participants according to their contribution. Beyond the initial token sale, the DAO may choose to sell additional tokens to further capitalize the project in the future, in accordance with DAO governance mechanisms.
At the heart of Long COVID Labs is the largest decentralized clinical trial network ever built.
We propose thousands of small adaptive clinical trials running in parallel, each testing different combinations of drugs, supplements, or novel interventions. As data streams in:
Patients receive data-driven recommendations they can take to their doctors immediately. Researchers gain access to open, anonymized, and regulatory-compliant data for further analysis.
The platform can be scaled to handle millions of participants globally, turning Long COVID Labs into the world’s largest adaptive trial generator, solving the world’s largest unmet chronic disease.
Conventional research methods often fail with complex, multi-system conditions, such as Long COVID, because they rely on rigid trial designs and fixed endpoints. Our approach embraces complexity and leverages it:
This allows us to minimize treatment resistance with multi-drug combinations, hunting for signal in the noise with often heterogeneous symptom clusters. Thinking bigger here overcomes problems traditional pharma often avoids because they are too complex and risky.
Navigating regulatory frameworks across multiple jurisdictions poses challenges, particularly for a decentralized and adaptive trial platform. We address this risk by:
Building and maintaining a scalable, decentralized platform requires overcoming significant technical challenges. Key risks include:
We mitigate these risks through robust testing, regular security audits, and collaborations with leading Web3 infrastructure providers.
There is also significant logistical challenge in coordinating a decentralized trial, much less one of the scale we are proposing. This has never been done before. Navigating the practical considerations for data collection and accuracy, ensuring acceptable trial methodology is followed, and maintaining reasonable control groups are all potential roadblocks that must be addressed.
Existing biopharma structures often push labs, startups, and nonprofits to compete for limited resources, thereby discouraging data sharing and collaboration. Long COVID Labs envisions a non-zero sum approach:
There are three primary ways Long COVID Labs can accelerate research and commercialization of therapeutics via innovative intellectual property and licensing strategies.
One, negotiating licenses with university labs and researchers. This involves approaching individual researchers who may have specific drugs or IP that the DAO believes has high potential for commercialization. The DAO would then negotiate with the researcher and the university’s office for technology licensing to agree on specific monetary terms for licensing the drug’s IP.
Two, approaching pharmaceutical companies with existing intellectual property. The DAO can negotiate, for example, licensing terms to re-purpose an existing COVID-19 therapeutic or prophylaxis for the Long COVID indication. By including terms acceptable to both the DAO and the pharmaceutical company, we could propose a carve-out for the Long COVID indication for a certain amount of time, subject to specific performance and commercialization milestones. This allows us to take drugs that may have worked, for example, against previous virus strains, and re-purpose them for Long COVID patients who may have viral persistence of those older strains.
Three, developing the DAO’s own internal IP. The DAO can sponsor independent research work, perhaps supported by a Long COVID Labs joint CRO, in exchange for future intellectual property generated from that research being assigned to the patient DAO. This is the “cheapest” licensing method, but also the most difficult as it requires sponsoring everything from basic through clinical research.
As Long COVID intellectual property is created (or acquired), developed and then commercialized, the DAO may vote to out-license or approve new spin-out companies focused on individual therapeutics. As those companies and their products or services generate profit, the proceeds can be re-invested in the DAO, further developing new or existing Long COVID treatments or allowing, for example, subsidized treatment at cost for patients in financial need.
Rather than accruing profit purely to private shareholders, the DAO model allows the Long COVID community to benefit from the drugs created from their data, and for their needs. Because the DAO is a community-driven and patient-governed organization, the incentive toward profit above all else is mitigated and channeled into more positive, egalitarian outcomes.
The flywheel of sponsoring research leading to IP, which is then commercialized, and finally re-investing profits in the DAO allows the organization to thrive with less outside capital.
Phase 1: Launch the DAO and Initial Treatment (Q1 2025)
Phase 2: Start the Moonshot Trial Engine (Q4 2025)
Phase 3: Scale and Iterate (Q3 2026)
Phase 4: Global Platform (2026+)
Research suggests we may only be scratching the surface of long-term complications post-COVID. If our scientists can develop therapeutics targeting the residual spike protein and other post-viral markers, the potential market is enormous—possibly the largest opportunity in pharmaceutical history. Unlike conventional “Big Pharma” approaches, which often prioritize profit for shareholders above all else, Long COVID Labs aims to align the economic upside with people—especially those suffering from Long COVID—and the scientific community leading the charge.
One of the most pressing concerns in the global public health landscape is that many people may be walking around with latent or invisible impacts of COVID-19. While many governments have declared the immediate emergency over, the long-term threat lingers, potentially creating a massive health burden in the coming years. Treating these asymptomatic or minimally symptomatic individuals could improve the quality of life for millions and drastically reduce broader societal costs related to healthcare, productivity, and well-being.
Long COVID Labs challenges the idea that large pharmaceutical companies must dominate every aspect of drug discovery. By giving direct governance power to patients and the broader public, we transform typical hierarchical structures into horizontal, transparent, and accountable systems. We can harness the energy and insights of a global community to raise awareness, fund innovative methods, and reward open collaboration instead of siloed R&D. The result is a People vs. Big Pharma model—where incentives are aligned with discovering affordable, effective treatments at scale.
By combining a people-centric governance model, decentralized funding, and a collaborative research ecosystem, Long COVID Labs aims to reshape how pharma and biotech innovation occur in the 21st century. This is about more than just treating Long COVID; it’s about empowering communities to take their health into their own hands, unlocking fast and equitable pathways to the market, and ensuring that life-changing therapies remain accessible to all.
We invite researchers, patients, advocates, philanthropists, and everyday citizens to join Long COVID Labs in shaping the future of post-COVID healthcare. By collectively wielding the power of the $COVID token, we can fund breakthrough discoveries, develop next-generation therapeutics, and ensure the benefits of innovation flow back to the people, not just a handful of large corporations.
This is our moment to stand at the intersection of science, community, and technology—building solutions that are responsive, transparent, and driven by the people whose health is at stake.
For more information about LONG COVID LABS, the DAO, and how to participate, please visit our website and join the community forums.
$COVID tokens are governance tokens, conferring on holders a right to vote on the actions of the Long COVID DAO. Long COVID Labs does not encourage the purchase of $COVID tokens for the purpose of speculation. All risks associated with the purchase and holding tokens are entirely and voluntarily accepted and assumed by token purchasers.
This document does not constitute a prospectus, an offer document of any sort, or is intended to constitute an offer or purchase agreement of securities, or investment in securities in any jurisdiction, nor it represents, constitutes or involves the exchange of funds for any form of securities, investment units and/or form of ordinary shares in any project, in any platform, or any other related entity or company associated with the promoters.
All statements regarding any of the mentioned entities, financial positions and expectations, business strategies, plans and prospects and the prospects of the industry which the promoters are in are “forward-looking statements”. Neither the promoters, its founders, team members, any third party involved in the project nor any other person represents, warrants and/or guarantees any actual future results, performance or achievements of the project.
The $COVID tokens mentioned do not constitute securities and/or collective investment units in any project, platform, company or entity. The $COVID token holders do not receive any form of dividend or other revenue rights, including royalties, nor does it represent any participation in a profit-sharing scheme.
To the maximum extent permitted by the applicable laws, regulations and rules, the promoters, founders, team members and any third party involved in the project shall not be liable for any direct, indirect, special, incidental, consequential or other losses of any kind, in tort, contract or otherwise (including but not limited to loss of revenue, income or profits, and loss of use or data), arising out of or in connection with any acceptance of or reliance on the terms of this document.
