Molnupiravir (Lageviro) antiviral treatment lead to the rapid accrual of hundreds of SARS-CoV-2 mutations; study demonstrates that Molnupiravir can ‘supercharge’ viral evolution potentially generating

new variants and prolonging the pandemic; all patients treated with the drug accrued new mutations in the spike protein of the virus, including non-synonymous mutations that altered the amino acid seq

SOURCE:

https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2022.12.21.22283811v1

‘used a case-control approach to monitor SARS-CoV-2 genomes through time in nine immunocompromised -patients with five treated with Molnupiravir. Within days of treatment, we detected a large number of low-frequency mutations in patients and that these new mutations could persist and, in some cases, were fixed in the virus population.

All patients treated with the drug accrued new mutations in the spike protein of the virus, including non-synonymous mutations that altered the amino acid sequence. Our study demonstrates that this commonly used antiviral can ‘supercharge’ viral evolution in immunocompromised patients, potentially generating new variants and prolonging the pandemic.’

This, along with the mutations driven by the gene injection.