Evidence map›Paper›PMID 39522507›Full record

ArticleIntervirology2024

The Fitness of Molnupiravir-Signed SARS-CoV-2 Variants: Imputation Analysis Based on Prescription Counts and Global Initiative on Sharing All Influenza Data Analyses by Country.

Daniele Focosi, Dave McNally, Fabrizio Maggi

Abstract read
In one paragraph

Article in Intervirology, 2024. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 1 paper.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
1citing papers in PubMed
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

1 citing paper in PubMed.

  1. Review
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

3 authors.

Daniele FocosiNorth-Western Tuscany Blood Bank, Pisa University Hospital, Pisa, Italy.
Dave McNallyIndependent researcher, Bristol, UK.
Fabrizio MaggiLaboratory of Virology, National Institute for Infectious Diseases, Lazzaro Spallanzani IRCCS, Rome, Italy.

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

introductionMolnupiravir is one of the oral direct-acting antivirals against SARS-CoV-2, largely deployed during the COVID-19 pandemic since the 2022 Omicron wave. While efficacy has been questioned in post-marketing clinical trials (leading to the EMA withdrawing its authorization), growing concerns have mounted regarding its possible mutagenic effects on the virus. While it has been assumed that either all the host viral load was cleared by the drug or drug-generated variants were not fit enough to survive, several lineages with a high transition/transversion ratio (a signature of molnupiravir action) have been recently reported from GISAID.

methodsWe report here a systematic analysis of the GISAID database for sequences showing a molnupiravir signature, exposing a public web-based interface (<ext-link ext-link-type="uri" xlink:href="https://ukcovid.xyz/molnupiravir/" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">https://ukcovid.xyz/molnupiravir/</ext-link>), and performing an imputation analysis based on per-country prescription (corrected by sequencing).

resultsOur analysis confirms a direct correlation between the number of molnupiravir courses and the number of mutationally signed sequences deposited in GISAID in individual countries.

conclusionsMolnupiravir can generate fit SARS-CoV-2 variants that transmit in the general population.

Indexed as

Antiviral AgentsCOVID-19 Drug TreatmentCytidineHydroxylaminesSARS-CoV-2COVID-19HumansInfluenza, HumanMutationAntiviral AgentsCytidineHydroxylaminesmolnupiravirEID-1931MK4882MolnupiravirMutagenicityNHCSARS-CoV-2

Identifiers

PMID39522507
PMCPMC11623959

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LicenceCC BY-NC
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Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.