UCSF is trying a new tactic to eradicate long COVID symptoms. Here’s how it works.

The outSMART-LC clinical trial is one of only a small number testing a treatment or cure for the post-COVID condition, which is bafflingly complex, often robbing people of the ability to think clearly, wake up refreshed from sleep, exercise, or even breathe deeply.

It rests on evidence that pieces of the coronavirus that causes COVID can linger in the body for years after infection. UCSF scientists want to see if annihilating those bits can improve or even erase the debilitating symptoms. “This is just hypothetical, but that is why we’re doing the study,” said Dr. Michael Peluso, principal investigator of the trial dubbed outSMART-LC. “We’re going to take the virus out of commission — we think — and see if people feel better.”

The drug that he and co-investigator Dr. Steven Deeks are aiming at the unwanted viral visitors is a monoclonal antibody, a lab-made protein that attacks viruses more effectively than natural antibodies. Called AER002, it’s manufactured by Aerium Therapeutics, a Boston biotech company.