A little over a year ago, at the beginning of the “vaccinated athletes are dropping dead” era, Merck announced a new pill. Sold as a treatment for people at risk of severe COVID illness, Molnupiravir could confuse the crap out of COVID, effectively stopping it dead.
Skip wrote about the announcement here on October 2, 2021. According to the report,
How effective was the drug in trials? So effective that an independent panel looked at some preliminary data and told Merck there was no reason to see those trials through to completion. The pill was obviously working. …the new therapeutic involves a breakthrough as well. Instead of attacking viral proteins, molnupiravir scrambles the invader’s genes to stop it from replicating. In other words, it hacks the virus.
Allahpundit at Hot Air (occasional deep-state stooge) powdered it with hearts and smiley faces. Skip’s write-up is hopeful, but he’s no fool. He closed the piece with, “If all this turns out to be true.”
Guess what?
Molnupiravir does scramble COVID’s genes but not exactly the way they sold it. The drug deliberately mutates it in the host (you) to create variants and that was the point.
Igor Chudov explains why Merck thought this was such a great idea.
Before we consider this study, let me point out that most mutations (in viruses and animals) are deadly and make the organism unable to reproduce. Such was the hope with Molnupiravir: its designers expected that mutations caused by the drug would make the Sars-Cov-2 virus unable to reproduce, thus stopping the infection.
The sales pitch was that you could trick COVID into mutating and it would die in the host but not kill the host. So, what about the bad news?
…SOME mutated copies remain viable – and create new variants!
Let’s skip back up the page a moment to this: “How effective was the drug in trials? So effective that an independent panel looked at some preliminary data and told Merck there was no reason to see those trials through to completion.”
Was that such a good idea?
Chudov’s article includes a recent pre-print of research showing that Molnupiravir can create viable transmissible variants. He also includes warnings. From Science.org, Nov 2021.
William Haseltine, a virologist formerly at Harvard University known for his work on HIV and the human genome project, suggests that by inducing viral mutations, molnupiravir could spur the rise of new viral variants more dangerous than today’s. “You are putting a drug into circulation that is a potent mutagen at a time when we are deeply concerned about new variants,” says Haseltine, who outlined his concern Monday in a Forbes blog post. “I can’t imagine doing anything more dangerous.”
Also linked by Chudov, from BMJ – Nov 4, 2021.
Molnupiravir clearly induces intense mutagenesis in SARS-CoV-2,3 and this accounts for its efficacy. But β-d-N4-hydroxycytidine, the active metabolite of molnupiravir, is not only cytotoxic but also mutagenic in mammalian cells.4 The drug may damage DNA.
The FDA Advisory Panel was aware of these risks and others, including birth defects (if used during pregnancy) but still voted to give it authorization.
Your government promptly laundered billions into Merck to buy it for anyone, just as they did with Pfizer and Paxlovid (which doesn’t work either but may be less dangerous than Molnupiravir). A fact that New Hampshire State Epidemiologist Dr. Chan may have known. He suggested that Paxlovid was more effective. Maybe he meant to say less dangerous.
A casual search of New Hampshire’s Fourth Estate finds very little warning. WMUR had nothing. The Union Leader had several pieces, but only this warning one time (subscriber only) emphasis mine.
Some of the FDA’s experts have said that could lead to more troublesome variants.
There have also been some safety concerns around the drug because it may affect bone cartilage and growth.
Due to that reason, Merck’s drug is not authorized for use in patients younger than 18, the FDA said. The pill is not recommended for use during pregnancy, the agency added.
The agency advised that men of reproductive potential use a reliable method of birth control during treatment with molnupiravir, and for at least three months after the final dose.
Note: The FDA EUA Fact Sheet does note that you should not use this if pregnant or if you could become pregnant. I did not see any mention of the risk you’d become a variant factory/super-spreader. That seems important, and its absence is significant, especially since “some experts” said.
HT | Igor Chudov Substack