How Do Anti Viral Drugs Work?

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Moli periver works by essentially introducing mutations into the viral genu. Pax lovid inhibits a kind of protein called a proteas, which is involved in sort of processing viral proteins. Both drugs come with their own potential side effects or risks or problems. One mutation early in a pregnancy could be much more significant than one mutation in an adult cell.

Two new anti-viral pills have been shown to be safe and effective against COVID in clinical trials, according to recent press releases. The drugs, molnupiravir, developed by Merck and Ridgeback Biotherapeutics, and Paxlovid, developed by Pfizer both appear to significantly reduce hospitalisation in people with early COVID. Some researchers are quietly hopeful that these new weapons in the anti-COVID arsenal could have a big impact, in particular in parts of the world where vaccines are still not widely available, but there are a number of caveats. In this episode of Coronapod, we open the pill boxes and pick through the contents - asking how the drugs work, what side effects we might see and how, if at all, they might change the course of the pandemic.

News: COVID antiviral pills: what scientists still want to know

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