3 ms·

Molnupiravir increases Covid mutations, will it breed the next variant?

• greenyoda 5y ago
  The original title of the article is: "Rethinking Molnupiravir". The current HN title, "Molnupiravir increases Covid mutations, will it breed the next variant?" is misleading clickbait, since the article dismisses that as being highly unlikely: > "The third risk factor is that you could cause mutations in the coronavirus, but not enough to make it non-viable, and perhaps even give it some mutations that make it worse as a pathogen. This issue came up during the advisory committee hearing several times. It's a serious question, but for what it's worth, I think odds of this happening are very low indeed..." As per HN Guidelines: "Please use the original title, unless it is misleading or linkbait; don't editorialize." https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html
  • ipspam 5y ago
    Derek low may "think" those odds are low. But this current variant also comes from a country where the trials for this drug happened.
    • rsfern 5y ago
      If you mean South Africa, I don’t think it’s thought that Omicron originated there, just that it was first sequenced there because they do quite a lot of surveillance sequencing. I have read that it’s thought to have originated in maybe Botswana, or that maybe it jumped species to mice and back. I don’t think it’s conclusive yet