Anti-COVID drug accelerates viral evolution

Discussion of the creation of new COVID-19 variants via treatment with molnupiravir. Sanderson et al. Sanderson showed that thousands of viruses with many mutations - sometimes more than 100 - survived molnupiravir treatment, and that mutated viruses were transmitted between individuals and continued to accumulate mutations.The prevalence of viral genomes with signatures of molnupiravir-induced mutations was strongly correlated with when, where, and how often molnipiravir was used. The mutational signatures were also more common in viruses from older individuals, who tended to be treated with molnupiravir more often.Authors note that in addition to the evidence of new variants being created, molnupiravir has shown low efficacy Butler, and data indicates interaction with, and therefore potentially mutatation of, host DNA Swanstrom, Zhou.Concerns have been raised that the mutagenic mechanism of action may create dangerous variants or cause cancer Hadj Hassine, Huntsman, Marikawa, Swanstrom, Waters, Zhou, Zibat. Multiple analyses have identified variants potentially created by molnupiravir Fountain-Jones, Kosakovsky Pond, Sanderson, twitter.com.