Mitodicure GmbH applies for 3 patents for ME/CFS drugs

[Kitty]

For a layman like myself it does look very rational and seems to explain all the symptoms that appear. Would be grateful to hear what others think.

These hypotheses can look interesting to begin with.

By the time you've heard seven more that are equally compelling but mutually exclusive, you're a lot more sceptical. People cherrypick findings, stressing those that align with their pet theory and conveniently ignoring those that either don't add up or actually contradict it.

I'm sure they believe in them sincerely, but belief is so unhelpful in science that starting to develop symptoms of it should probably sound a loud hooter with flashing red lights.

 

[OrganicChilli]

Mitodicure entwickelt Medikament gegen ME/CFS

Das Start-up Mitodicure um die früheren Sanofi-Mitarbeiter Klaus Wirth und Harald Pacl arbeitet an einem neuartigen Wirkstoff gegen ME/CFS. Ziel ist die erste zugelassene Therapie für die häufi ...

www.laborjournal.de

The company's drug candidate is currently in preclinical phase. "We have completed the pharmacology and are now starting the usual toxicity and safety studies," says Pacl. [...] The Mitodicure founders' current plan is to bring their candidate to clinical proof of concept, i.e., a completed Phase 2a study.

The private start-up receives the funding for this from what Pacl calls traditional sources. "We are currently financing ourselves privately as well as with funds from the state of Hesse and the European Union. A mix of private and public funds from the federal government will also be necessary for the next larger financing round. Otherwise, we are not moving fast enough." The next step, however, is seed financing, which the founders hope to achieve through venture capitalists and wealthy private individuals.

 

[Dude]

From LinkedIn:

A study from the University of Erlangen on post-COVID-19 patients (83 % of whom met the Canadian criteria for ME/CFS), using non-invasive near-infrared spectroscopy (NIRS) to measure oxygenated hemoglobin, demonstrated changes in oxygenation during skeletal muscle activity that indicate hypoperfusion, mitochondrial dysfunction, and impaired oxygen diffusion in muscle:

Ladek et al., 2025 – “Deoxygenation Trends and Their Multivariate Association with Self-Reported Fatigue in Post-COVID Syndrome”, Biomedicines
https://www.mdpi.com/2227-9059/13/6/1371
DOI: 10.3390/biomedicines13061371
An advantage of this hand muscle exercise test is that it is non-invasive and does not trigger PEM.
This study and the two studies from Harvard and Stanford highlighted in our previous post support one another and are consistent with findings and conclusions from exercise and muscle studies conducted in Amsterdam, Ulm, and Arizona:

• Amsterdam: Skeletal muscle properties in long COVID and ME/CFS differ from those induced by bed rest (Appelman et al., preprint, 2025)
  https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2025.05.02.25326885v1
• Ulm: Bizjak et al., 2024 – skeletal muscle / exercise physiology findings in ME/CFS and post-COVID patients (University of Ulm)
• Arizona: Jothi et al., 2025 – muscle oxygenation / exercise response abnormalities in post-COVID and ME/CFS patients

The parameters identified in the Erlangen and Stanford studies meet the standards of scientific biomarkers and hold promise as future diagnostic biomarkers.
Taken together, the skeletal muscle pathophysiology on which Mitodicure’s targeted and rational drug approach is based is now strongly supported by these and other studies. The time for drug development is overdue.