So I have been trying to process this information over the past few days ... the Ars Technica piece (while it does a great job with the hammer synonyms) was obviously written by someone who never took a basic genetics course. This drug is basically a cytidine (one of the RNA building blocks) with a self-implosion unit attached to it. When the virus replicates it will occasionally insert this drug in lieu of a real cytidine and cause enough chaos to essentially prevent the virus from replicating its RNA genome correctly. We humans also use cytidine to transcribe our DNA into RNA so we can make proteins (enzymes are a type of protein that does things) so it is quite conceivable that this drug could ultimately interfere with our protein making (note that RNA is generally short-lived in our cells and always freshly transcribed from DNA). Also, as Zhou et al. pointed out it is conceivable that this drug can easily be converted to DNA precursors via ribonucleotide reductase. That means you now have a deoxycytidine with the self-implosion unit ready to be incorporated into your dividing cells (extra bad for female fetuses and spermatozoa). The lack of long-term affects (as is so unrefreshingly common nowadays) is unacceptable. On the surface it is a brilliant drug, but we really need to look at it from all sides. We have gotten do many things wrong in the past (lead-paint, asbestos, talcum powder, hey - let's use plastic for everything) - do we just forego safety to satisfy an immediate need (albeit for an underwhelmingly fatal virus) - prophylactic use at this point would be quite scary.
"U.S. pharmaceutical giant Merck has agreed to share its license with a nonprofit so that its experimental covid-19 drug, molnupiravir, can be manufactured widely around the world in a deal that would expand access to the treatment in more than 100 countries."
"Last week, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation announced what it said was an initial investment of up to $120 million to incentivize those drugmakers to begin producing the treatment now — even before it has been approved by regulatory bodies."
So I have been trying to process this information over the past few days ... the Ars Technica piece (while it does a great job with the hammer synonyms) was obviously written by someone who never took a basic genetics course. This drug is basically a cytidine (one of the RNA building blocks) with a self-implosion unit attached to it. When the virus replicates it will occasionally insert this drug in lieu of a real cytidine and cause enough chaos to essentially prevent the virus from replicating its RNA genome correctly. We humans also use cytidine to transcribe our DNA into RNA so we can make proteins (enzymes are a type of protein that does things) so it is quite conceivable that this drug could ultimately interfere with our protein making (note that RNA is generally short-lived in our cells and always freshly transcribed from DNA). Also, as Zhou et al. pointed out it is conceivable that this drug can easily be converted to DNA precursors via ribonucleotide reductase. That means you now have a deoxycytidine with the self-implosion unit ready to be incorporated into your dividing cells (extra bad for female fetuses and spermatozoa). The lack of long-term affects (as is so unrefreshingly common nowadays) is unacceptable. On the surface it is a brilliant drug, but we really need to look at it from all sides. We have gotten do many things wrong in the past (lead-paint, asbestos, talcum powder, hey - let's use plastic for everything) - do we just forego safety to satisfy an immediate need (albeit for an underwhelmingly fatal virus) - prophylactic use at this point would be quite scary.
"U.S. pharmaceutical giant Merck has agreed to share its license with a nonprofit so that its experimental covid-19 drug, molnupiravir, can be manufactured widely around the world in a deal that would expand access to the treatment in more than 100 countries."
"Last week, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation announced what it said was an initial investment of up to $120 million to incentivize those drugmakers to begin producing the treatment now — even before it has been approved by regulatory bodies."
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/u-s-drug-company-merck-to-share-license-for-experimental-covid-19-treatment-with-nonprofit-organization/ar-AAQ0lJI?ocid=msedgdhp&pc=U531
Going worldwide.