COVID drug molnupiravir may be driving the virus to mutate

An antiviral drug used to deal with COVID-19 could also be driving the virus that causes the illness to evolve, a brand new research suggests.

However is that this regarding, or significantly shocking? Not at this level, and not likely, consultants informed Reside Science.

Scientists analyzed greater than 15 million SARS-CoV-2 genomes — genetic materials from the virus that causes COVID-19 — and located that molnupiravir induces a “mutational signature” that, if the virus is not fully obliterated by a course of the drug, might be transmitted to different folks. Molnupirivar works by inflicting mutations within the SARS-CoV-2 genome that forestall the virus from replicating.

“Beforehand folks had raised the mutagenic impact of molnupiravir on viruses as a theoretical danger,” research lead writer Theo Sanderson, a researcher on the Francis Crick Institute in London, informed Reside Science in an electronic mail. “Our work makes this extra concrete as a result of now we have discovered that molnupiravir may give rise to extensively-mutated viruses that stay transmissible,” he mentioned. What’s extra, among the mutations that cropped up repeatedly appear to be ones that might assist the virus evade the immune system, he added.

Associated: New antiviral capsule halves danger of COVID-19 hospitalization, Merck says

The authors of the research, revealed Monday (Sept. 25) within the journal Nature, discovered that after molnupiravir’s rollout, this mutational signature was widespread in nations that extensively used the drug, such because the U.S. and U.Okay. Nevertheless, nations the place molnupiravir will not be licensed, comparable to Canada, had fewer examples of those signatures.

The findings might assist regulators to evaluate the dangers and advantages of utilizing the drug, however consultants informed Reside Science that many questions stay unanswered.

Box of Lagevrio pills against a white background

Molnupiravir, pictured above, is authorized to deal with COVID-19 in lots of nations worldwide, together with within the U.S. (Picture credit score: Shutterstock)

“We shouldn’t be involved with mutations themselves, however quite whether or not they enable the virus to adapt to contaminate or transmit higher,” mentioned Vaughn Cooper, a professor of microbiology and molecular genetics on the College of Pittsburgh who was not concerned within the analysis. “On this case, we see comparatively little proof that molnupiravir is fueling extra variations to flee prior immunity or alter infectiousness,” Cooper informed Reside Science in an electronic mail.

Certainly, Sanderson mentioned from this knowledge alone, it’s tough to quantify how widespread it’s for molnupiravir-derived lineages of SARS-CoV-2 to unfold between folks. That is as a result of, if a single pattern of the virus with this molnupiravir signature reveals up in a database however would not have any shut family, scientists cannot simply inform if it got here from somebody handled with the drug or one other individual contaminated additional down the road.

The research additionally did not deal with the potential dangers and advantages of utilizing molnupiravir for particular person sufferers, Sanderson mentioned. This can be essential to grasp, particularly for these with weakened immune methods, he mentioned. These sufferers have the next danger of extended COVID-19 infections that give the virus extra alternatives to choose up plenty of mutations.

Future modeling research might assist predict whether or not the drug might affect the chance of latest variants of concern rising — one other query that the present research did not discover, Sanderson added.

“Now we have but to see proof of more healthy sequences arising from molnupiravir” — that means viruses that may extra simply unfold and multiply — “however this work actually supplies pause for thought and may weigh closely in concerns round future use of the drug, necessitating on the very least mitigations of the dangers of this impact, alongside actual world knowledge on the effectiveness of the drug,” Aris Katzourakis, a professor of evolution and genomics on the College of Oxford who was not concerned within the analysis, informed Reside Science in an electronic mail.

Mitigation methods might embody selective prescribing and monitoring chronically contaminated sufferers for proof of viral evolution, however these safeguards would should be balanced in opposition to sufferers’ scientific wants and the provision of different therapies, he mentioned.

This text is for informational functions solely and isn’t meant to supply medical recommendation.

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