Molecular Mechanisms of Coronavirus Drug Candidate Molnupiravir Unraveled . Post By SCIENCE .

Whether Molnupiravir is Safe to Be Approved as a Drug Will Probably Be Announced in The Second Half of The Year .

The U.S. Government is Already Optimistic and Has Recently Secured About 1.7 Million Doses Worth More Than a Billion Dollars .

In Preliminary Studies, Molnupiravir Reduced The Transmission of The Sars-CoV-2 Coronavirus .

 Researchers at the Max Planck Institute for Biophysical Chemistry in Göttingen and the Julius Maximilians University Würzburg have now elucidated the underlying molecular mechanism. 

The antiviral agent incorporates RNA-like building blocks into the RNA genome of the virus. 

If this genetic material is further replicated, defective RNA copies are produced and the pathogen can no longer spread.

 Molnupiravir is currently being tested in clinical trials.

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Molnupiravir also appears to trigger mutations in other RNA viruses, preventing them from spreading further. 

"The compound could potentially be used to treat a whole spectrum of viral diseases," tells Höbartner, a professor of chemistry at the University of Würzburg. "Molnupiravir has a lot of potential." Currently, the promising drug candidate is in phase III studies, where it is being tested on a large number of patients.

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