A virologist from the USA warns of the dangers of a new corona drug. The EU is currently examining its approval.
Washington DC – More and more potential drugs against the corona virus * are being investigated for approval worldwide. The corona pill molnupiravir is currently being examined by the EU and is considered to be particularly promising. A virologist from the USA * now has doubts about the Merck Sharp & Dohme product and warns of possible dangers.
In simplified terms, molnupiravir works by stimulating corona viruses in the body to mutate, which in turn makes it more difficult for the virus to multiply. Former Harvard professor William A Haseltine therefore warns that this process could lead to new and dangerous corona mutations. Haseltine attracted attention several times in the course of the corona pandemic and, among other things, spoke out in favor of a redistribution of vaccines. In an article on the forbes.com platform, the virus researcher writes that the amount of different mutations could produce a virus similar to the Delta variant.
Corona drug under fire: virologist warns of mutations
While the EU and the USA are currently still examining the corona drug, it was granted restricted approval in Great Britain * on Thursday (November 4, 2021). In his article, the virologist Haseltine demands that these investigations not only take into account the effects on individuals, but also the risks mentioned by him. Other researchers, however, rate this as less acute.
“I do not share this fear,” said Raymond Schinazi, who conducts research on infectious diseases at Emory University in the USA, in an interview with the portal science.org. “If you force an organism to mutate more, that is probably rather bad for the virus,” he continued, but added that the “possibility that variants are generated” is there.
EU wants to accelerate testing of corona drug
According to Merck itself, no dangerous corona variants have been found in previous studies, as an employee told science.org. In his article on forbes.com, on the other hand, the virologist Haseltine generally questions such arguments, since the approval of molnupiravir would result in significantly more different mutations than a laboratory study.
On Monday (November 8th, 2021) the European Medicines Agency announced that it would publish guidelines for corona treatment with molnupiravir in the EU as soon as possible. For this purpose, in addition to the ongoing testing process of the drug, available data should be examined. In the USA, the FDA wants to decide on an emergency approval on November 30th. (vbu) * fr.de is an offer from IPPEN.MEDIA.
Header list image: © Merck & Co, Inc./afp
