What is Molnupiravir and what Molnupiravir actually does?

Molnupiravir is an antiviral drug that was developed for the treatment of SARS-COV & MERS in the 2000s.In 2021, Ridgeback Biotherapeutics LP and Merck & Co. developed that this can also be used for the treatment of COVID-19. It reduces the chance of Covid-19 to halves and is proved. They released their discovery on 1st October in front of the press and also confirmed that they have already completed two trials on humans and the result is positive. Molnupiravir is the first oral drug for Covid-19. In the Placebo trial, 14% of people were hospitalized or dead out of 53 people who did not take the drug. But it has been seen that for those who have taken the drug the percentage is low. Then after one month, it has been observed that for those who have taken Molnupiravir the death rate has reduced. Merck announced that by the end of 2021 they will produce about 10 million doses and will be able to produce more doses within 2022. Among so many drugs, Molnupiravir is the only drug that has been approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for the treatment of Covid-19 and can be used. The federal government decided that about 1.7million courses will be bought for $1.2billion which means per course the cost is $700.

Molnupiravir acts as a replacement to one molecule that constitutes RNA and the virus will integrate molnupiravir into its genetic code because the virus will replicate. During further replication, molnupiravir will jumble or mix up the code marginally. Plemper said that “We introduce random mutations into the viral genome which is a very quick catastrophe for the virus”. He also said that for the virus to mutate itself to death, it's not necessary to perform thousands of mutations. An antibody therapy was discovered before this antiviral drug which was approved and used for the treatment of people who are having symptoms for about 10 days. Molnupiravir and monoclonal antibodies both decrease viral load and also reduce the chance for hospitalization. But antibody therapy is given through injection and is very expensive. One time treatment costs around $2000 which is very expensive compared to that of Molnupiravis. Though Molnupiravir can be an effective drug, vaccination is a way more effective precaution for the Covid-19 virus. And also, it is cheaper and is given free of cost in many hospitals and health centres.