Covid pill molnupiravir does not cut hospitalisation, the death rate in many vaccinated adults

Subject: Science and Technology

Context:

Merck & Co Inc’s COVID antiviral molnupiravir speeds up recovery but does reduce the hospitalisation or death rate in higher-risk vaccinated adults, detailed data shows.

Detail:

The study, called PANORAMIC, compared the oral pill against standard treatment Alone in people over 50 for those aged 18 and older with underline conditions. they had been unwell with confirmed covid for five days for fever in the community setting.
When Merck originally tested molnupiravir, it was found 30% effective in reducing hospitalizations but that was in unvaccinated patients.

Molnupiravir:

It belongs to a class of broad-spectrum antiviral drugs called nucleoside analogues.
They act by interfering with the function of viral RNA (Ribonucleic Acids) polymerases – which are enzymes that make new viral RNA in infected cells.
- RNA is a polymer of ribonucleotides and an important biological macromolecule that is present in all biological cells.
- It is principally involved in the synthesis of proteins, carrying the messenger instructions from Deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA), which itself contains the genetic instructions required for the development and maintenance of life.
It works by causing viruses to make errors when copying their own RNA, introducing mutations that inhibit replication.
It was initially invented as a drug for the influenza virus.

Mechanism:

These drugs work by preventing the process of replication of the virus inside human cells.
- A virus is a biological agent that can self-replicate inside a host cell. The infected cells by viruses may produce thousands of new copies of the original virus at an extraordinary rate.
- It alters critical enzymes that were necessary to the virus for replicating in the human body cells.