According to a new study, an antiviral medicine used to treat COVID-19 patients may have caused changes in the virus, resulting in new forms of the virus.
Molnupiravir, commonly known as Lagevrio in pharmacies, is a coronavirus-killing medication. Researchers have discovered evidence that the virus can survive therapy, sometimes resulting in altered variants that transmit to other people.
This Merck antiviral pill was one of the first medications introduced during the pandemic to control the severity of the coronavirus in vulnerable persons.
Dr. Theo Sanderson, a postdoctoral researcher at the Francis Crick Institute in London and principal author on the study, told AFP that molnupiravir “can give rise to significantly mutated viruses which remain viable”.
There is no evidence that molnupiravir caused the development of more severe coronavirus strains.
None of the COVID variants that have swept the world were due to the drug
However, the scientists noted that the mutations increased the virus’s genetic diversity in the wild and provided additional alternatives for future evolution.
Sanderson, a biologist at the Francis Crick Institute in London, emphasized that there is no proof that “molnupiravir has to date created more transmissible or virulent viruses.”
“None of the variants that have swept the world were due to the drug. But it is very difficult to predict whether molnupiravir treatment could potentially lead to a new widely circulating variant which people don’t have prior immunity to,” he added. Valium
Sanderson, told The Guardian, “People have some concerns about molnupiravir and to some sense, this makes that more concrete. We know these viruses can still be alive following a significant number of mutations and they can still be transmissible in some cases.”
According to the researchers, the study’s findings are crucial for scientists to continue assessing the benefits and hazards of molnupiravir as well as other medications that are in the development phase and act in a similar fashion.
