Skating Deer and Molnupiravir
A helpful Canadian (naturally) rescued a family of deer stuck on ice. It happened last winter, but it’s too good to pass up.
Behind the Scenes In the Drug Funding Process
Universities love to call their drug incubators with snappy names. Remember Harvard calls theirs DRUID. Emory University calls theirs Drug Innovation Ventures at Emory (DRIVE.)
The US federal government’s Biological Advanced Research and Development Authority is charged with providing emergency funding for vaccines and drugs against covid-19. Rick Bright, the authority’s experienced and highly-qualified director, made the mistake of saying publicly that hydroxychloroquine was not effective for the treatment of covid-19. The president had been advising the population to take the drug, so Bright was immediately fired.
Bright was right, of course. The House of Representatives invited Bright to a Whistleblower Hearing. He had learned his successors were considering funding for molnupiravir. He finished his testimony by taking a swipe at molnupiravir because some related drugs had been shown to cause mutations in animals. He said there were studies showing it was mutagenic in humans but didn’t say where he read them.
Hoards of lobbyists, lawyers, and PR people entered the fray courtesy of DRIVE and RidgeBack Biotherapeutics, a Florida company that bought rights. The giant Merck now owns the drug.
Bright is now on President-elect Biden’s coronavirus task force.
Is Our Sweet Baby Drug Mutagenic?
Ask yourself, would Lady Kate Middleton Windsor carry around a mutagenic drug? Of course not.
Probably Kate did a Medline search for articles on molnupiravir and gene mutations and found they recorded only one article published in the peer-reviewed journal, Science Translational Medicine. They tested the drug in cultures of human cells and found it did not cause mutations. It says,
NHC [molnupiravir] was potently antiviral against SARS-CoV-2, MERS-CoV, and SARS-CoV in primary human epithelial cell cultures without cytotoxicity.
…with the first blanket of snow expected to cover her district on Wednesday, the Jefferson County Schools [West Virginia] superintendent decided her nearly 9,000 students shouldn’t miss out on one more experience. Despite many students’ virtual class schedule, she canceled all classes in an emotional letter pleading with families to enjoy the experience.
Stay safe as the snow and covid pile up outside in the cold. Between the Moderna vaccine being approved and the disease providing antibodies to survivors, masking and distancing, we are marching towards herd immunity levels by summer.
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