by Scientists analyzed more than 15 million SARS-CoV-2 genomes — genetic material from the virus that causes COVID-19 — and found that molnupiravir induces a “mutational signature” that, if the virus isn’t completely obliterated by a course of the drug, can be transmitted to other people. Molnupirivar works by causing mutations in the SARS-CoV-2 genome that prevent the virus from replicating.
“Previously people had raised the mutagenic effect of molnupiravir on viruses as a theoretical risk,” study lead author Theo Sanderson, a researcher at the Francis Crick Institute in London, told Live Science in an email. “Our work makes this more concrete because we have found that molnupiravir can give rise to extensively-mutated viruses that remain transmissible,” he said. What’s more, some of the mutations that cropped up repeatedly seem to be ones that could help the virus evade the immune system, he added.
r Theo Sanderson, a researcher at the Francis Crick Institute in London, told Live Science in an email. “Our work makes this more concrete because we have found that molnupiravir can give rise to extensively-mutated viruses that remain transmissible,” he said. What’s more, some of the mutations that cropped up repeatedly seem to be ones that could help the virus evade the immune system, he added.
