Program will validate diagnostic tests for SARS-CoV-2 persistence and other drivers of Long COVID, providing a path to more targeted treatments
MEDFORD, Mass., March 24, 2026 /PRNewswire/ -- PolyBio Research Foundation today announced the launch of VIPER (Viral Immunopathogenesis and Persistence Repeat Donor Cohort), the first large-scale program designed to rigorously validate diagnostic tests that measure SARS-CoV-2 persistence and other biological drivers of Long COVID. An initial $1.35 million has been deployed to the University of California San Francisco (UCSF) to initiate the program, with additional funding announcements forthcoming.
VIPER is the first phase of the PolyBio Long COVID Cure Initiative (LCCI), a four-step program designed to translate biological discovery into real-world treatments.
Despite rapid scientific progress, the Long COVID field remains constrained by a critical bottleneck: the lack of validated, clinically usable diagnostics. Many promising tests exist only as academic research tools - unstandardized, unvalidated, and inaccessible to clinicians. As a result, clinical trials are imprecise, patient populations are poorly stratified, and therapies often fail to match the underlying biology of disease.
VIPER is designed to solve this bottleneck.
The program will conduct rigorous, head-to-head evaluation of leading diagnostic approaches to determine which tests most accurately detect SARS-CoV-2 persistence and other core disease mechanisms. These validated tools will enable precise patient stratification, improve clinical trial design, and accelerate the development of targeted therapies.
VIPER builds on the PolyBio-supported Long-term Impact of Infection with Novel Coronavirus (LIINC) Study at UCSF and is modeled after landmark work done by that team and others in developing transformative diagnostic tests for HIV.
"Having witnessed how a single test can transform a complex disease like HIV, I am fully committed to doing my part to develop tests for Long COVID," said Steven Deeks MD, Professor of Medicine at UCSF and a senior investigator in LIINC and VIPER. "Validated diagnostics will allow us to run smarter, more targeted trials - and ultimately deliver effective treatments to patients faster."
Funding was provided by a donor coalition that includes the Pagliuca family and Greg and Mindy White, each of whom has family members personally impacted by Long COVID.
"Long COVID represents one of the most urgent unmet medical challenges of our time," said Steve Pagliuca, Founder & CEO of PagsGroup. "Scientific insights are advancing, but they are not yet reaching patients. The Long COVID Cure Initiative is changing that by systematically accelerating the path from discovery to real-world treatments."
"The VIPER program builds the diagnostic foundation required to translate discovery into care, enabling smarter clinical trials and a coordinated path to treatments that actually match the biology of the disease," said healthcare philanthropist Greg White. "This is the kind of rigorous, integrated infrastructure needed to move an entire Long COVID field forward."
VIPER is the first phase of the Long COVID Cure Initiative (LCCI), a coordinated, four-step program to translate biological insights into real-world impact. By linking validated diagnostics to clinical trials and therapeutic development, LCCI is designed to deliver scalable, patient-ready solutions for millions of people affected by Long COVID.
About PolyBio Research Foundation
PolyBio Research Foundation is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit advancing research on how viral, bacterial, and parasitic infections drive chronic disease and aging. The organization builds collaborative programs to identify, diagnose, and treat the root causes of infection-associated chronic illness.
Media contact: Anastasia Hall at info@polybio.org
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SOURCE PolyBio Research Foundation
