An anti-COVID drug widely used across the world may have caused mutations in the virus, researchers said on Monday, but there was no evidence that the changes had led to more dangerous variants. Pharmaceutical giant Merck's antiviral pill molnupiravir was one of the earliest...
An anti-COVID drug widely used across the world may have caused mutations in the virus, researchers said on Monday, but there was no evidence that the changes had led to more dangerous variants.
However, a new UK-led study has shown that molnupiravir "can give rise to significantly mutated viruses which remain viable," lead author Theo Sanderson told AFP. In 2022, as the drug was prescribed in huge numbers, there was a significant increase in patients who had this mutational signature, the study found.
Sanderson rebuffed this claim, saying the researchers had used "several independent lines of evidence to identify with confidence that molnupiravir drives this mutational signature". Jonathan Ball, a virologist at the University of Nottingham, said the research showed a "strong link" between molnupiravir and the occasional, limited spread of highly mutated genomes.
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