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Antiviral Molnupiravir Reduces Risk of Hospitalization/Death by ~50 Percent

merck.com

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Re: Antiviral Molnupiravir Reduces Risk of Hospitalization/Death by ~50 Percent

#71

Post by barbinbrad »

crooked-v wrote: post #36
gfodor wrote: post #25

This is phenomenal news - I'm also curious how the various tribalist memes evolve. Will the vaccine maximalists who ridiculed "horse paste" when the data was still weak in part because a pill-based regime would undermine the message that vaccines ought to be mandatory embrace this much needed second tier therapeutic? Will the anti-vaxxers who will inevitably see this as the goal of a big pharma conspiracy covering up…

The vaccine maximalists ridicule "horse paste" because many people are literally buying and ingesting products intended for livestock.

In his Nobel-prize lecture, the Merck scientist William Campbell, talks about how Ivermectin was always intended to be used in humans.

Two relevant quotes from his speech are, "I had always insisted that our written departmental objectives would include the development of new drugs for control of parasites in humans" and "The end of ivermectin is nowhere in sight."

Check it out: https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/medicine/2015/campbell/lec...

Re: Antiviral Molnupiravir Reduces Risk of Hospitalization/Death by ~50 Percent

#72

Post by LurkingPenguin »

zdragnar wrote: post #51
LurkingPenguin wrote: post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

1. You need to account for the fact that some percentage (perhaps large) of healthcare workers already survived COVID and have natural immunity. Since the science is demonstrating that natural immunity is as durable and robust as vaccine immunity (if not more durable and robust), one would have to ask what the rationale is for firing workers who have natural immunity (as verified by a past COVID diagnosis or presence…

Healthcare workers have been on the front line, unvaccinated, for going on two years. To mandate it or risk being fired has absolutely pissed off quite a few that I know of... My wife has gotten it, and even she is offended. The hyperbole around this very serious situation just makes all the policies seem even more like theater. To your second point, there was just a new report I saw yesterday that there is no differ…

[flagged]

Re: Antiviral Molnupiravir Reduces Risk of Hospitalization/Death by ~50 Percent

#73

Post by gizmo686 »

mc32 wrote: post #6

Will this affect mandate requirements, if as effective as it’s claimed? If so we don't need to reach hard to achieve 95% vaccination rates and we can get closer to a normal life.

No. You will never be able to get this to enough of the people who need it when they need it. By the time most people seek treatment it is too late for antivirals to be effective.

Even if that wasn't the case, there us too much political momentum behind mandates in the US for this to change the course.

Re: Antiviral Molnupiravir Reduces Risk of Hospitalization/Death by ~50 Percent

#74

Post by divbzero »

lsternlicht wrote: post #43

Phase 3 trial was stopped on a positive interim analysis by DSMB and in consultation with FDA Interim analysis was performed on approximately half of the total enrolled patients (775 of the 1550). Trial included many delta and other variant patients ————— Efficacy • ~50% reduction in hospitalization (14.1% PBO vs 7.3% drug) • 100% reduction in deaths (8 PBO vs 0 drug) ————— Safety • fewer adverse reactions in the dru…

Looks like the clinical trial was for age 18 and above so an EUA probably would not allow use in children.

Re: Antiviral Molnupiravir Reduces Risk of Hospitalization/Death by ~50 Percent

#75

Post by KaiserPro »

mmastrac wrote: post #7
mc32 wrote: post #6

Will this affect mandate requirements, if as effective as it’s claimed? If so we don't need to reach hard to achieve 95% vaccination rates and we can get closer to a normal life.

If it halves hospitalizations, it'll have a pretty drastic effect on overwhelmed ICUs but there's probably still a ways to go before ICU levels return to normal and we can skip mandates.

remember that in exponential growth, halving the people going to hospital buys you one extra doubling time. (ie, if numbers increase every two weeks, halving the growth buys you two extra weeks.) You need to make sure that the growth has stopped, not just halved.

Re: Antiviral Molnupiravir Reduces Risk of Hospitalization/Death by ~50 Percent

#76

Post by KaiserPro »

_3u10 wrote: post #12
mmastrac wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If it halves hospitalizations, it'll have a pretty drastic effect on overwhelmed ICUs but there's probably still a ways to go before ICU levels return to normal and we can skip mandates.

Norway, Sweden, and the UK no longer have mandates, it's a political question not a medical question.

given the UK's death rate, I wouldn't use it as a data point for success.

Re: Antiviral Molnupiravir Reduces Risk of Hospitalization/Death by ~50 Percent

#78

Post by SamBam »

DominikPeters wrote: post #58

I enjoyed this article explaining in more detail how the drug works, though much of it goes over my head: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41594-021-00657-8 Briefly, it causes the copying process of viral RNA to go wrong by increasing the number of G-to-A and C-to-U mutations. A potential worry is that such mutations will also increase in places where we don't want them, such as in host DNA, but apparently at least f…

> A potential worry is that such mutations will also increase in places where we don't want them

Can anyone speak to how the drug avoids this? I've tried reading the literature, such as the Nature link above, and have failed to see what makes the drug specific to the virus.

Re: Antiviral Molnupiravir Reduces Risk of Hospitalization/Death by ~50 Percent

#79

Post by wk_end »

kazinator wrote: post #45
_Microft wrote: post #2

If you want to read a comment on this, try Derek Lowe's: https://www.science.org/content/blog-post/molnupiravir-thor-... Wikipedia has an article on the drug already if you would like to have a look at that instead: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Molnupiravir

> exerts its antiviral action through introduction of copying errors during viral RNA replication How does this target only viral RNA, not the body's own? Copying errors don't sound like something you want in your own RNA. "However, there are inherent risks in this approach. NHC can be metabolized by the host cell to the 20-deoxyribonucleoside form by the ribonucleotide reductase and then incorporated into the host c…

100% agreed on getting vaccinated, but for the elderly or immunocompromised people vaccination isn't enough to necessarily prevent severe outcomes and it might be worth the risk. As a young person, I'd probably stay away, at least in the near term, given how effective vaccines are.

Re: Antiviral Molnupiravir Reduces Risk of Hospitalization/Death by ~50 Percent

#80

Post by crooked-v »

barbinbrad wrote: post #71
crooked-v wrote: post #36

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The vaccine maximalists ridicule "horse paste" because many people are literally buying and ingesting products intended for livestock.

In his Nobel-prize lecture, the Merck scientist William Campbell, talks about how Ivermectin was always intended to be used in humans. Two relevant quotes from his speech are, "I had always insisted that our written departmental objectives would include the development of new drugs for control of parasites in humans" and "The end of ivermectin is nowhere in sight." Check it out: https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/medi…

I'm not talking about ivermectin itself. I'm talking about how people are literally going to livestock supply stores, buying products that contain ivermectin but come in forms and dosages intended for livestock, and ingesting those (even when intended for topical usage), based entirely on internet advice and without any kind of doctor oversight.

That's where "horse paste" mockery comes from.

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