Heyer et al. in their recent paper "Remdesivir-induced emergence of SARS-CoV2 variants in patients with prolonged infection" published in Cell Reports Medicine have reported that remdesivir treatment can result in rapid fixation of newly acquired mutations. They have also noted that "Treatment-associated evolutionary bottlenecks promote emergence of novel variants". It's great to see that the validity of our early hypothesis has been confirmed by other researchers. We strongly believe that the "Remdesivir-induced emergence of SARS-CoV2 variants" is the dark side of the antivirals such as remdesivir that needes further investigation. Mehdizadeh AR, J Bevelacqua J, Mortazavi SAR, S Welsh J, Mortazavi SMJ. How Antivirals Might be Linked to the Emergence of New Variants of SARS-CoV-2. J Biomed Phys Eng. 2021 Apr 1;11(2):123-124. doi: 10.31661/jbpe.v0i0.2101-1275. PMID: 33937119; PMCID: PMC8064135. https://lnkd.in/d4U2UTK Heyer, A. et al. Remdesivir-induced emergence of SARS-CoV2 variants in patients with prolonged infection. Cell Reports Medicine 3, 100735 (2022). https://doi.org:https://lnkd.in/e7NQWhP7
Heyer, A. et al. Remdesivir-induced emergence of SARS-CoV2 variants in patients with prolonged infection. Cell Reports Medicine 3, 100735 (2022). https://doi.org:https://lnkd.in/e7NQWhP7
Well the screening tool that’s consisting of selecting the dose regimen based upon a mere IC90 level during a percentage of the dosing interval proved totally ineffective in acute respiratory viral infections. Cell culture models aiming at 99p.cent efficacy should be a minimum. HCQ, avermectins and remdesivir, but likely the MSD approved antiviral have brought disappointment with a lack of clinical efficacy. Learning from both flu antivirals and HIV infection we would be better inspired working with combinations of candidates targeting different sites and penetration inhibition in the respiratory epithelial cells. In our group best results were achieved with 3 different moieties although the glycanes trapping alone was 99,9% effective in cell culture.
Hello Prof SMJ Mortazavi
I agree with you and Dr Juan-Carlos López-Corbalán that anti-viral medications are often associated with resistance. That is the Law of Biology at work!
More importantly, I am concerned about the social impact. My experience is that many people seem to have the impression that now we have these anti-viral medications available that we will all be fine and there is nothing to worry about. I think this view is very false and misguided.