When Waiting Hurts: Time to tackle chronic illnesses
Emergency room visits for tick bites are at their highest since 2017, driven partly by a surge in deer ticks that are the primary carriers of Lyme disease. This sharp increase reported by the CDC raises concerns not only about new infections but also about the lasting toll on up to 20% of Lyme patients who develop long-term symptoms. They will join the millions of Americans burdened by a daily barrage of widespread pain, fatigue, sleep disturbances, and brain fog—including 2 million with persistent Lyme disease (Long Lyme), more than 17 million with Long COVID, approximately 10 million with fibromyalgia, and over 3 million with Chronic Fatigue Syndrome.
Their suffering is often exacerbated by delayed diagnosis due to the complex and invisible nature of their conditions, which disproportionately affect women and have long carried stigma. While there is now an official name—Infection-Associated Chronic Illnesses (IACIs)—a 2025 National Academies of Sciences (NAS) report rightly asserts that research into treatments for these conditions “has received insufficient attention and investment.” As a result, patients may be misdiagnosed or go undiagnosed, prescribed addictive painkillers that compound their hardship, and never benefit from an informed prognosis.
Although broader recognition should help dispel dismissals of such illnesses as “not real,” there remains an unacceptable lack of safe and effective treatment options. In this innovation vacuum, the opportunity outlined by the NAS is for researchers, physicians like me, and patients to share what they know and expand the common ground of evidence to drive biotech advances. For example, the NAS report cites research that informed treatment approaches for fibromyalgia as a potential roadmap for developing medications that can meaningfully improve patients’ lives, despite limited clarity about what causes the condition in the first place.
In fact, breakthrough drugs often reveal more about the underlying causes of diseases than prior research alone. Notable examples include Dexedrine, which highlighted the role of certain neurotransmitters in Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD), and lithium, which deepened our understanding of the complex biology behind bipolar disorder. Similarly, although we don’t know precisely why some people are left with lasting neurological scars after illnesses like Lyme disease or COVID, we can expect that new drugs to treat their symptoms could offer invaluable insights.
When an infection leaves lasting damage and disrupts the lives of large segments of our population, we all pay the price—from lost productivity and the costs of disability to strain on our healthcare system. The solution lies in pursuing novel, promising treatments that not only relieve intractable symptoms but also produce findings that strengthen our scientific understanding. As the NAS has recommended, it’s time to prioritize the development of medications to alleviate the persistent burden that chronic, post-infectious illnesses impose on patients’ lives.
Just as these conditions share overlapping symptoms, they may also share pathways to next-generation treatments. We now have tremendous potential to spur discoveries that lead to faster diagnosis, objective prognosis, and advanced treatment options. The more we break down research silos across biotech, public health, and patient care communities, the better equipped we’ll be to treat these debilitating illnesses. By pooling knowledge and the critical clues we’ve uncovered about post-infectious syndromes, we can achieve a far greater return on scientific investment.
With stronger partnerships in emerging research and more streamlined regulatory processes, we can finally bring hope and relief to people trapped in cycles of pain and adversity. This effort requires immediate commitments from both the private and public sectors, with a shared focus on science-backed interventions that improve quality of life for patients still struggling without tolerable and effective treatments. If we all commit to accelerating IACI research, clinical trials, and government approvals, we can help millions of Americans reclaim their aspirations, careers, and lives.
This is a problem long overdue for the attention these patients deserve—and our work to make a real difference must begin now.
About the Author
Seth Lederman is co-founder, CEO and chairman of Tonix Pharmaceuticals Holding Corp., a biotech company dedicated to developing novel medicines for central nervous system disorders. The FDA recently approved TonmyaTM (cyclobenzaprine HCl) sublingual tablets as a treatment for adults with fibromyalgia. It is the first FDA-approved therapy for fibromyalgia in over 15 years.