Daily briefing: COVID-19 drug might be spurring new variants

Signature of molnupiravir might be in SARS-CoV-2 genomic sequence. Plus, the everyday chemicals that make us fatter and codebreakers decrypt…

Could a popular COVID-19 antiviral supercharge the pandemic?

Table of contents A version of this story appeared in Science, Vol 379, Issue 6632.Download PDF A widely used COVID-19…

Oxidative DNA Damage by N4-hydroxycytidine, a Metabolite of the SARS-CoV-2 Antiviral Molnupiravir

Hatasu Kobayashi 1, Yurie Mori 2,3, Sharif Ahmed 4, Yuichiro Hirao 5,6, Shinya Kato 7, Shosuke Kawanishi 8, Mariko Murata 9, Shinji Oikawa 10,✉,2 PMCID: PMC10132762  PMID: 36461940 Abstract Molnupiravir is an antiviral agent recently used for…

Lethal Mutagenesis of RNA Viruses and Approved Drugs with Antiviral Mutagenic Activity

Ikbel Hadj Hassine 1, Manel Ben M’hadheb 1, Luis Menéndez-Arias 2 Affiliations Expand Abstract In RNA viruses, a small increase in their mutation rates can be…

The chemical structures of Molnupiravir, NHC and EIDD-1931-triphopsphate.

View full-text article in PMCFront Immunol . 2022 Apr 4;13:855496. doi: 10.3389/fimmu.2022.855496

Human genetic risk of treatment with antiviral nucleoside analog drugs that induce lethal mutagenesis: The special…

Michael D Waters 1, Stafford Warren 2, Claude Hughes 3, Philip Lewis 4, Fengyu Zhang 5 Affiliations Expand Abstract This review considers antiviral nucleoside analog drugs, including ribavirin, favipiravir, and…

Merck’s Covid Pill Might Pose Risks for Pregnant Women

Some laboratory studies suggest that molnupiravir can insert errors in DNA, which could in theory harm a developing fetus, sperm…

Buyer beware: molnupiravir may damage DNA

Buyer beware: molnupiravir may damage DNA TLDR There is a certain irony that vaccine shy people who have believed the…

β-d-N4-hydroxycytidine Inhibits SARS-CoV-2 Through Lethal Mutagenesis But Is Also Mutagenic To Mammalian Cells

Shuntai Zhou 1, Collin S Hill 1, Sanjay Sarkar 2, Longping V Tse 3, Blaide M D Woodburn 1 4, Raymond F Schinazi 5, Timothy P Sheahan 3, Ralph S Baric 3 6, Mark T Heise 2 6, Ronald Swanstrom 1 7 Affiliations Expand…