Aethlon's Blood Filter Shows Promise in Tackling Long COVID Pathology

SAN DIEGO, CA – December 02, 2025

Aethlon Medical (Nasdaq: AEMD), a small-cap therapeutic company, has unveiled preclinical data suggesting its Hemopurifier® device could target a key driver of Long COVID, a debilitating condition with no proven treatments. The findings, published in the preprint server bioRxiv, show the device can remove harmful inflammatory particles from the plasma of Long COVID patients, potentially offering the first mechanistic approach to treating the persistent and widespread illness.

A Novel Mechanism Against a Mysterious Ailment

The core of Aethlon's announcement is a study demonstrating a novel therapeutic strategy for a condition that has baffled the medical community. Long COVID, a collection of persistent symptoms following a SARS-CoV-2 infection, affects an estimated 44 to 48 million people in the U.S. alone, creating a staggering public health and economic crisis. Patients suffer from fatigue, cognitive "brain fog," and pain, with an estimated economic burden of $2 billion for those with long-term symptoms. Despite over a billion dollars in research funding, the treatment landscape remains barren.

Aethlon's approach, developed in collaboration with the UC San Francisco Medical Center Long COVID clinic, zeroes in on extracellular vesicles (EVs). These tiny nanoparticles, released by cells to communicate with each other, are increasingly implicated in the pathogenesis of Long COVID. In affected individuals, these EVs can carry inflammatory cargo, including microRNAs and even viral remnants, contributing to systemic inflammation and abnormal blood clotting.

The company's Hemopurifier® is an extracorporeal device—a filter outside the body—that uses a proprietary resin containing Galanthus nivalis agglutinin (GNA). This plant-based lectin has a high affinity for mannose, a type of sugar found on the surface of certain EVs. The preclinical study showed that plasma from Long COVID patients had significantly elevated levels of these mannose-positive EVs compared to recovered controls. When this plasma was treated with the GNA resin ex vivo (in the lab), it effectively removed these vesicles.

Crucially, this removal correlated with a significant reduction in seven specific EV-associated microRNAs. Pathway analysis software indicated that depleting these microRNAs could downregulate key inflammatory pathways, including the JAK-STAT pathway. This is a particularly noteworthy finding, as JAK inhibitors are already being investigated as a potential therapy in other Long COVID clinical trials, suggesting Aethlon may be targeting the problem from a more upstream position.

A "Pipeline in a Device" Broadens its Horizons

While the Long COVID data is new, the Hemopurifier is not. Aethlon has been developing the device primarily for oncology, where it holds an FDA Breakthrough Device designation for treating advanced cancers. The rationale is similar: cancer cells also release EVs that suppress the immune system and promote metastasis. By filtering these EVs from the blood, the Hemopurifier aims to restore the body's natural anti-tumor response, particularly in patients who have stopped responding to standard immunotherapies like PD-1 inhibitors.

The device also has a Breakthrough Device designation for treating life-threatening viral infections, with previous case studies showing its ability to remove the COVID-19 virus and associated inflammatory proteins from critically ill patients.

This new preclinical data for Long COVID dramatically expands the device's potential applications. Aethlon's CEO, James Frakes, framed this versatility as "a pipeline within a single device," a strategic position that could be highly attractive to investors. Rather than being a one-trick pony, the Hemopurifier is positioned as a platform technology targeting a fundamental pathological mechanism—the circulation of harmful EVs—that is common across multiple, major diseases.

"The data from this ex vivo study is exciting because it demonstrated for the first time that the GNA affinity resin in our device removes extracellular vesicles in Long COVID patient samples and removes microRNAs associated with the JAK-STAT pathway which is a therapeutic target in current Long COVID clinical trials," stated Dr. Steven P. LaRosa, Aethlon's Chief Medical Officer. The company now plans to investigate if the process also removes persistent SARS-CoV-2 viral particles, another leading hypothesis for the cause of Long COVID.

The Strategic and Financial Calculus

For a micro-cap biotech firm like Aethlon, valued at just over $3 million, such a development is pivotal. While the company's stock has struggled over the past year, declining nearly 87%, this news provides a potent new narrative and a potential gateway to a massive, untapped market. The successful development of a Long COVID therapy would be a game-changer not only for patients but for the company's financial future.

However, investors must temper excitement with a healthy dose of caution. The data, while promising, is preclinical and has not yet undergone formal peer review. The journey from a lab study to a commercially available, FDA-approved therapy is long, expensive, and fraught with risk. Aethlon's own financial statements reflect the typical struggles of a development-stage company, with significant negative earnings and operating margins.

On the other hand, the company reports strong liquidity and, perhaps most tellingly, high insider ownership of 46.62%. This suggests that those who know the company best retain significant confidence in its long-term prospects. Furthermore, the company has been securing its intellectual property, with recently issued patents covering the Hemopurifier's use for treating Long COVID and COVID-related blood clotting disorders.

The next critical steps for Aethlon will be to get this study published in a peer-reviewed journal and, more importantly, to design and fund clinical trials to test the Hemopurifier in actual Long COVID patients. Success in these endeavors would be a major de-risking event and could unlock significant value. For now, the Hemopurifier remains a high-risk, high-reward proposition, but its potential to address one of the most significant unmet medical needs of our time makes Aethlon Medical a company to watch closely in the coming months. The firm's ability to translate this promising ex vivo data into tangible clinical benefit will be the ultimate test of its technology and strategy.