COVID-19 drug could cause new variants, study says

Molnupiravir, an antiviral treatment for COVID-19 marketed by US pharma giant Merck & Co (NYSE: MRK) under the name Lagevrio, could in fact lead to the virus mutating, according to a research article.

This article, authored by seven scientists and published in the journal Nature, states that if some patients treated with molnupiravir do not fully clear SARS-CoV-2 infections, there could be the potential for onward transmission of molnupiravir-mutated viruses.

The scientists say that they are able to show that SARS-CoV-2 sequencing databases contain extensive evidence of molnupiravir mutagenesis.