Context

• A new drug called Molnupiravir has been shown to stop the transmission of SARS-CoV-2 in 24 hours.

About Molnupiravir

• The antiviral drug Molnupiravir, or MK-4482/EIDD-2801, is taken orally.
• Molnupiravir is being developed by the biotechnology firm Ridgeback Biotherapeutics in collaboration with pharmaceutical firm Merck.
• The research team repurposed MK-4482/EIDD-2801 against SARS-CoV-2 and tested it on ferrets.
• Molnupiravir is an experimental antiviral drug which is orally active and was developed for the treatment of influenza.
• It is a drug of the synthetic nucleoside derivative N4-hydroxycytidine, and exerts its antiviral action through introduction of copying errors during viral RNA replication.

Source: IE