As antiviral pill Lagevrio is approved in the UK – here are some things to be aware of...

Lagevrio is the UK brand name for Merck’s molnupiravir antiviral treatment for COVID-19, which was approved on 4th November 2021. Sajid Javid is hopping up and down with excitement about it, but what aren’t they telling you in the mainstream?

Firstly, what is its mechanism of action?

“Molnupiravir works as an antiviral by tricking the virus into using the drug for replication, then inserting errors into the virus’ genetic code once replication is underway. When enough copying errors occur, the virus is essentially killed off, unable to replicate any further.” – William A. Haseltine

That might sound fair enough, but here are some headline points:

It may cause errors in other cells - not just viral ones...

Earlier this year, a study published in the Journal of Infectious Diseases found that molnupiravir’s metabolite could be incorporated into and mutate within our host DNA:

...which may promote cancer growth and cause birth defects

"Molnupiravir may not just lead to the growth of cancerous tumours but also, potentially, to birth defects, either through sperm precursor cells or in pregnant women.” (Haseltine, Forbes)

"Although NHC is administered as a ribonucleoside, it can be transformed into the deoxynucleoside form and utilized by our own cells, indicated by the mammalian cell culture results, and can lead to mutations and possibly cancer. This finding should alarm people; here we see the push for a therapeutic where only acute toxicity has been measured with no measurement of long term side effects." - From an interesting article by 'Modern Discontent' on Substack.

(Both these comments quote the study referenced above.)

It could cause the virus to mutate

If you don’t complete the full treatment course of 2 pills a day for 5 days, former Harvard Medical School professor, William A. Haseltine, writing in Forbes on November 1st, warns that could simply encourage mutation:

“Outside of the lab, as the drug is given to millions of people with active infections…we would likely provide a prime selection environment to improve the fitness of the virus.

A slew of studies on adherence to daily oral antibiotics suggest that many patients — as many as 40% — fail to complete the full course of treatment. At these suboptimal concentrations, molnupiravir could have the unfortunate effect of introducing mutations across every gene and protein of the virus, including the spike, but not necessarily killing it off.”

Coronaviruses can become resistant to molnupiravir

“In a series of pre-pandemic experiments to determine whether coronaviruses could become resistant to molnupiravir (the answer: yes, they can), researchers tested the active form of molnupiravir against two other highly pathogenic coronaviruses: MERS-CoV and the mouse hepatitis virus (MHV). Critically, the researchers found that the viruses could survive and replicate to high titers despite such large numbers of mutations in every gene and protein.” (Haseltine, Forbes)

Merck’s Phase 2/3 clinical trial for molnupiravir only included 762 participants and is ongoing

Although Molnupiravir has been in the research phase for use against coronaviruses for many years, the trial for SARS-CoV-2 began in October 2020 and will end in May 2022.

The study data released by Merck showed:

• Half the participants were given the drug, the other half a placebo

• All participants were instructed to either abstain from heterosexual sex or use contraception for the duration of the trial

• They had all tested positive for SARS-CoV-2 but were not seriously ill

• 7.3% (28/385) of those given molnupiravir ended up in hospital, compared to 14.1% (52/377) of the placebo group - that's a 6.8% absolute risk reduction, compared to the 50% relative risk reduction they're yelling about in the media

• There were 8 deaths in the placebo group, none in the molnupiravir group

• All participants were over 18 and had at least one risk factor, e.g. old age, heart disease or obesity – so we don’t know what the effects might be for under-18s or completely healthy adults.

On November 2nd, William Haseltine’s article concluded:

“If the FDA approves the drug it should be only on a very narrow basis and include a black box warning to emphasize the potential danger of using the drug at suboptimal doses or for large numbers of people for preventive purposes. To that, I add the need for specific warnings for men and women who are actively trying to become pregnant and for women who are already pregnant — under no circumstance should these individuals receive this treatment.”