Antiviral Drugs

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There is a concern that, what if those mutations inadvertently create a variant. But my understanding is that the researchers aren't particularly worried about that at this stage. It's another one of those theoretical possibilities that they'll have to watch very closely to see. The more times you make a mutation in the viral genum, the less likely it is that that virus is going to be fit and able to even function. And when you saturate a viral genom with lots of mutations, it is just most likely that it's going to cease to function - not become a super virus.

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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