A study published on Tuesday in the esteemed peer-reviewed journal Nature, has raised concerns that the anti-COVID drug molnupiravir, marketed under the name Lagevrio and developed by Merck, may be contributing to mutations in the SARS-CoV-2 virus.
Originally designed to combat influenza, molnupiravir gained approval from the US Food and Drug Administration in late 2021 and has been widely administered to COVID patients at risk of developing severe complications.
The drug’s mechanism of action involves inducing errors in the genetic code of the SARS-CoV-2 virus, effectively hindering its replication process.
Conducted by scientists at the Francis Crick Institute in London, the study suggests that if molnupiravir treatment does not completely clear the SARS-CoV-2 infection from the body, it could potentially lead to the transmission of mutations associated with the drug.
Researchers examined global sequencing databases housing more than 15 million SARS-CoV-2 genomes, focusing on mutations in sequences from the year 2022, following the introduction of molnupiravir treatment. These mutations were notably identified in countries where the drug was widely used, including the United Kingdom, Australia, the United States, and Japan. Conversely, countries that did not authorize molnupiravir usage, such as Canada, exhibited fewer of these mutations in their screened sequences.
In January 2022, Israel’s Ministry of Health approved the use of molnupiravir and secured a purchase agreement for the drug, priced at $700 per treatment course for one individual. The ministry specified that molnupiravir was intended for individuals aged 18 and above with mild to moderate COVID symptoms who possessed at least one risk factor for deterioration leading to hospitalization or death, and for whom alternative drugs, such as Pfizer’s Paxlovid, were not suitable or accessible. Administered in tablet form, molnupiravir is intended for home use within three to five days of symptom onset and is taken over a five-day period. It is not recommended for use as a prophylactic measure against COVID or for pregnant or breastfeeding women.
Sheba Medical Center in Ramat Gan, Israel, collaborated with Merck in early trials of molnupiravir for COVID-19. These trials indicated that the drug was effective in preventing hospitalization and death in approximately 30% of test subjects. However, the full implications and consequences of the molnupiravir-associated mutations highlighted in the Nature study remain uncertain.
The study’s authors cautioned, “These results indicate that molnupiravir treatment has produced a signature mutation profile that is identifiable in sequence databases, a finding that should be considered when assessing the effects and safety of this drug.” They further noted, “However, whether molnupiravir might alter the trajectory of variant generation or transmission is difficult to predict.”
(YWN World Headquarters – NYC)
Join the official YWN WhatsApp status
5 Responses
What else is new 🤦🏻♂️
According to established scientific theories, any drug that cures or prevent a disease is probably encouraging the rapid evolution of that disease. The drug (or vaccine) kills almost all of the types of the disease (otherwise it would be banned as ineffective), allowing the few survivors to reproduced and become “a new strain”. This would be true of anything anti-viral or anti-biotic, excluding drugs such as tylenol which treat the symptoms (while the patient’s immune system attacks the disease).
viruses mutate readily, because of their primitive reproduction and short life cycles. but most mutations are either not viable at all or not better suited to survive. are the mutations caused by molnupiravir special (apart from being recognizable)?
The drug is under the classification of mutagenics for crying loud, so what else would you expect?? I’m not even sure why the article title labels it as “Popular”. Don’t know about EY, but in USA it was hardly ever prescribed even initially in comparison with Paxlovid.
For those more at risk, stick with drugs with a high safety profile of many decades like HCQ & IVM and the good news Merck also makes it (yes, for Humans, but for a much lesser profit) under their brand name Stromectol. The latter functions both as protease inhibitor for the initial acute stage and as a spike protein debris binder for the post acute cleanup …unless you still belive the FDAs “horse-S*” dogma (now illegal, according to a recent court ruling).
…ADDENDUM to my last post: There is NO ONE SINGLE silver-bullet drug that could treat C19. (Even the in/famous Paxlovid is a cocktail of 2 repurposed drugs.) The viral S-protein has been engineered for a multi-organ attack vector so a multi-faceted treatment approach is often required for those far from their inmune-prime. (Look up the FLCCC for protocolds and for a physician who hasn’t lost his seichel & ethics.)