As the world waits for vaccines, new hope is emerging in the fight against Covid-19 in the form of an investigational drug, molnupiravir. Administered orally, it would block the transmission of the virus in 24 to 36 hours. What to knock out the pandemic?
If the vaccine represents the most concrete hope in the fight against the coronavirus, a University of Georgia (United States) announced, this Thursday, December 3, to have advanced on the development of a drug administered orally or intravenous.
In an article published in the online journal Nature, researchers at Emory University indicate that the antiviral MK-2282 / EIDD-2081 (molnupiravir by its trade name) is a major breakthrough sinceit suppresses the transmission of the disease in less than 24 hours.
“This is the first demonstration of a drug available orally capable of rapidly blocking the transmission of SARS-CoV-2, whose rules of the game could be reversed”, explain the researchers in their conclusions.
Patients with Covid-19 could become non-infectious within 24-36 hours
So far, the drug has been “tested in ferrets which transmit the virus effectively with minimal clinical signs resembling spread in the young-adult human population”.
The researchers admit that the “antiviral efficacy” of molnupiravir “in humans is still unknown”. However, they indicate that “if the data from the transmission of SARS-CoV-2 on the ferret are predictive of the effect in humans, patients with Covid-19 could become non-infectious within 24 to 36 h. the start of oral treatment “.
Taken soon after infection, molnupiravir would have three advantages: “reduce the risk of progression to serious disease and accelerate recovery, avoid isolation and confinement and, finally, block clusters very quickly”. In short, a serious asset to end the epidemic.
Tests in humans have already started and are currently in phase II. No study has yet been published on these first tests.
The study released this Thursday will be analyzed by the scientific world before being published. A release of this experimental drug has not yet been scheduled.
Until then, Ridgeback Biotherapeutics and Merck, the laboratories associated with the project, will have to dispel the doubts arising from previous versions of molnupiravir which would have had mutagenic properties producing congenital malformations.
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