Could a popular COVID-19 antiviral supercharge the pandemic?

A widely used COVID-19 drug may be driving the appearance of new SARS-CoV-2 variants, sparking concerns it could prolong and even reinvigorate the pandemic. The drug, molnupiravir, produced by Merck & Co., is designed to kill the virus by inducing mutations in the viral genome. A survey of viral genomes reported in a new preprint, however, suggests some people treated with the drug generate novel viruses that not only remain viable, but spread. “It’s very clear that viable mutant viruses can survive [molnupiravir treatment] and compete [with existing variants],” says virologist William Haseltine, chair of ACCESS Health International, who has repeatedly raised concerns about the drug. “I think we are courting disaster.” But a Merck spokesperson disputes that the drug has led to the emergence of widely circulating variants, and some researchers downplayed the significance of molnupiravir-caused mutations. “Right now, it’s much ado about nothing,” says Raymond Schinazi, a medicinal chemist at the Emory University School of Medicine, noting that with SARS-CoV-2 infecting millions of people worldwide, the virus is naturally mutating at a fast clip. Authorized in the United Kingdom and the United States in late 2021, molnupiravir was the first oral antiviral approved anywhere to fight COVID-19. It has since been authorized in dozens of other countries. In 2022, Merck estimated global sales of the compound at more than $5 billion. Though that is well ...
Source: ScienceNOW - Category: Science Source Type: news