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The International Declaration signed by leading experts in the field of ME/CFS (Myalgic Encephalomyelitis/Chronic Fatigue Syndrome) and Long COVID calls for a global collaborative effort to substantially expand biomedical research and drastically advance the development of curative treatments. The declaration was announced on 12 May at the International ME/CFS Conference 2025 in Berlin by Prof Carmen Scheibenbogen (Charité – Universitätsmedizin Berlin). The declaration has since garnered growing international support and has been signed by 65 international scientists and medical experts (as of 1 September 2025).

The Declaration recognises the growing public health crisis posed by ME/CFS and Long COVID and underlines the urgent need to advance biomedical research and drug development efforts globally. Highlighting the moral, medical, societal and scientific imperative to increase research efforts to uncover the disease mechanisms underlying ME/CFS and Long COVID, it calls on governments and international bodies to prioritise research funding on both diseases. The signatories explicitly outline the need for more clinical trials and translational studies to investigate potential treatment options, including repurposed drugs. They also call on pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies to be more actively engaged and incentivised to invest in research and drug development.

The Declaration also mentions the need for the research community to engage in active partnerships with patient communities, incorporating lived experience into study design, outcome measures, and the delivery of medical care. Furthermore, it calls upon medical education systems to reflect the current knowledge of ME/CFS and Long COVID in their curricula, empowering health care professionals to provide up-to-date medical care to patients.

The full text and list of signatories of the Declaration can be accessed on this website.

International Declaration in Support of Research and Drug Development for ME/CFS and Long COVID

Preamble

We, the undersigned physicians, scientists, and healthcare leaders from across the globe, affirm the urgent need to address the growing public health crisis represented by Myalgic Encephalomyelitis/Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (ME/CFS) and Long COVID — two conditions that have emerged as deeply interlinked and largely neglected by global biomedical research and drug development companies.

Recognizing:

  1. That millions of individuals worldwide are suffering from post-viral syndromes characterized by debilitating fatigue, post-exertional malaise, autonomic dysfunction, cognitive impairment, and a host of multisystemic symptoms;
  2. That the COVID-19 pandemic has led to an unprecedented increase in the incidence of post-acute infection syndromes (PAIS), and that many of these patients meet established diagnostic criteria for ME/CFS;
  3. That ME/CFS has, for decades, been severely underfunded, under-researched, and misunderstood, despite its high burden of disease and significant economic and social costs;
  4. That current medical education and public health infrastructure are inadequately prepared to recognize, diagnose, and treat these complex, chronic illnesses; and
  5. That drug development for ME/CFS and Long COVID is currently virtually non-existent in the mainstream pharmaceutical pipeline.
We therefore declare the following:
  1. Global Challenge and Responsibility:
    There is a moral, medical, economic and scientific imperative to invest robustly in international and collaborative research into the pathophysiology of ME/CFS and Long COVID, with special focus on immune, autonomic, neurological, and metabolic dysfunction.
  2. Funding and Infrastructure:
    Governments, health ministries, and international bodies must designate ME/CFS and Long COVID as high-priority conditions for dedicated funding, comparable to other chronic diseases with similar or lower disease burden and prevalence.
  3. Biomedical Research and Trials:
    We call for a global expansion of clinical trials and translational studies to evaluate therapeutic candidates, including repurposed drugs, for ME/CFS and Long COVID. Pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies must be actively engaged and incentivized to invest in therapeutic development for these conditions, recognizing the immense unmet medical need and potential for innovation.
  4. Patient Partnership:
    Research must be conducted in active partnership with patient communities, incorporating lived experience into study design, outcome prioritization, and care delivery models.
  5. Education and Awareness:
    Medical education systems must rapidly update curricula to reflect current knowledge-based understanding of ME/CFS and Long COVID, empowering clinicians and other health professionals to recognize and support affected individuals with competence and compassion.

Conclusion

The time to act is now. The burden of inaction will continue to bring great suffering to many people and place a heavy burden on societies, economies and healthcare systems. We are united in our commitment to finding effective treatment for ME/CFS and Long COVID and bringing hope to all those affected.

This Declaration has been signed and endorsed by the world’s leading experts, physicians, health care providers and scientists committed to confronting the challenges of ME/CFS and Long COVID.

Issued 12 May 2025

The International Declaration in Support of Research and Drug Development for ME/CFS and Long COVID is an independent initiative by the signatories. The ME/CFS Research Foundation acts as the Declaration’s host within the framework of the document’s initial announcement at the International ME/CFS Conference 2025, organised with the support of the Foundation.

List of signatories

As of 1 September 2025 (in alphabetical order):

  • Ziyad Al-Aly, Prof (MD), Washington University in St. Louis, USA
  • Anna Aschenbrenner, Dr (PhD), German Center for Neurodegenerative Diseases (DZNE), Bonn, Germany
  • Nina Babel, Prof (MD), Charité – Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Germany
  • Lucinda Bateman, Dr (MD), Bateman Horne Center Salt Lake City, Utah, USA
  • Uta Behrends, Prof (MD), Technical University of Munich (TUM) Hospital and Munich Schwabing Clinic, Germany
  • Judith Bellmann-Strobl, Dr (MD), Charité - University Medicine Berlin, Germany
  • Jonas Bergquist, Prof (MD, PhD), Biomedical Centre, Uppsala University, Sweden
  • Michelle Bull, Dr, Physios for ME, UK
  • Oliver Cornely, Prof (MD), Uniklinik Köln, Germany
  • Jeroen den Dunnen, Prof (PhD), Amsterdam University Medical Center (UMC), Netherlands
  • Meike Dirks, Dr (MD), Hannover Medical School (MHH), Germany
  • Wesley Ely, Prof (MD), MPH, Vanderbilt University Medical Center, USA
  • Øystein Fluge, Prof (MD), University of Bergen, Norway
  • Patricia Grabowski, Dr (MD), Charité – Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Germany
  • Bettina Grande, Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Germany
  • Tilman Grande, Dr, Charité- Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Germany
  • Kathryn Hoffmann, Prof (MD), MPH, Medical University of Vienna, Austria
  • Brian Hughes, Prof (PhD), University of Galway, Ireland
  • Akiko Iwasaki, Prof (PhD), Yale University, USA
  • Leonard Jason, Prof (PhD), DePaul University, Chicago, USA
  • Anthony Komaroff, Prof (MD), Brigham and Women's Hospital and Harvard Medical School, Boston, USA
  • Eliana Lacerda, Prof (MD, PhD), London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine (LSHTM), UK
  • W. Ian Lipkin, Prof (MD), Mailman School of Public Health and Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons of Columbia University, New York, USA
  • Sonya Marshall-Gradisnik, Prof (PhD), National Centre for Neuroimmunology and Emerging Diseases, Griffith University, Brisbane, Australia
  • Josef Mautner, Dr, Helmholtz Munich, Germany
  • Olav Mella, Prof (MD, PhD), University of Bergen, Norway
  • Alain Moreau, Prof (PhD), University of Montreal, Canada
  • Luis Nacul, Prof (MD, PhD), University of British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada
  • Robert K. Naviaux, Prof (MD, PhD), University of Californa San Diego (UCSD) School of Medicine, San Diego, USA
  • Peter Novak, Prof (MD), Brigham and Women's Hospital and Harvard Medical School, Boston, USA
  • Michael Peluso, Prof (MD), MHS, University of California San Francisco (UCSF), USA
  • Chris P. Ponting, Prof (PhD), University of Edinburgh, UK
  • Resia Pretorius, Prof (PhD), Stellenbosch University, South Africa
  • Christian Puta, Prof (PhD), Friedrich Schiller University Jena, Germany
  • David Putrino, Prof (PhD), Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York, USA
  • Herbert Renz-Polster, Dr (MD), currently unaffiliated, Germany
  • Gabriela Riemekasten, Prof (MD), University Hospital Schleswig-Holstein (UKSH), Lübeck, Germany
  • Peter Rowe, Prof (MD), Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, USA
  • Dominique Salmon, Prof (MD, PhD), Paris Descartes University, France
  • Wakiro Sato, Dr (MD, PhD), National Center of Neurology and Psychiatry (NCNP), Tokyo, Japan
  • Birgit Sawitzki, Prof, Charité – Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Germany
  • Carmen Scheibenbogen, Prof (MD), Charité – Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Germany
  • Elisabeth Schieffer, Dr (MD), University Hospital of Giessen and Marburg (UKGM), Marburg, Germany
  • Claudia Schilling, Dr (MD), Central Institute of Mental Health (CIMH), Mannheim, Germany
  • Georg Schlieper, Dr (MD), Dialysis Hannover - Center for Kidney, Hypertension and Metabolic Diseases, Germany
  • Martina Seifert, Prof, Charité – Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Germany
  • Nuno Sepúlveda, Prof (PhD), Warsaw University of Technology, Poland
  • Yehuda Shoenfeld, Prof (MD), Tel Aviv University, Israel
  • Fridbjörn Sigurdsson, Dr (MD), Landspitali - University Hospital, Reykjavik, Iceland
  • Kristian Sommerfelt, Prof (MD), University of Bergen, Norway
  • Franziska Sotzny, Dr, Charité – Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Germany
  • Jürgen Steinacker, Prof (MD), Institute of Rehabilitation Medicine Research at Ulm University, Germany
  • Michael Stingl, Dr (MD), Private Practice, Vienna, Austria
  • David Systrom, Prof (MD), Brigham and Women's Hospital and Harvard Medical School, Boston, USA
  • Karl Johan Tronstad, Prof (PhD), University of Bergen, Norway
  • Derya Unutmaz, Prof (MD), The Jackson Laboratory for Genomic Medicine, USA
  • Janneke van de Wijgert, Prof (MD), MPH, University Medical Center (UMC) Utrecht, Netherlands
  • Johanna (Anske) van der Bom, Prof (MD, PhD), Leiden University Medical Center (UMC), Netherlands
  • Maria J. G. T. Vehreschild, Prof (MD), Universitätsmedizin Frankfurt, Germany
  • Cordula Warlitz, Dr (MD), Technical University of Munich (TUM) Hospital and Munich Schwabing Clinic, Germany
  • Francisco Westermeier, Dr (PhD), FH JOANNEUM, Graz, Austria
  • Klaus Wirth, Prof (MD, PhD), Mitodicure GmbH, Germany
  • Rob Wust, Prof (PhD), Vrije Universiteit (VU) Amsterdam, Netherlands
  • Takashi Yamamura, Prof (MD, PhD), National Center of Neurology and Psychiatry (NCNP), Tokyo, Japan
  • Pawel Zalewski, Prof (PhD), Nicolaus Copernicus University, Torún, Poland