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Laboratory studies show that Merck & Co's (MRK.N) experimental oral COVID-19 antiviral drug, molnupiravir, is likely to be effective against known variants of the coronavirus, including the dominant, highly transmissible Delta, the company said on Wednesday. Since molnupiravir does not target the spike protein of the virus - the target of all current COVID-19 vaccines - which defines the differences between the variants, the drug should be equally effective as the virus continues to evolve, said Jay Grobler, head of infectious disease and vaccines at Merck. Molnupiravir instead targets the viral polymerase, an enzyme needed for the virus to make copies of itself. It is designed to work by introducing errors into the genetic code of the virus. (Beasley, 9/29)

Merck and Ridgeback Biotherapeutics plan to seek emergency authorization for their oral antiviral treatment for Covid-19, after the medicine showed “compelling results” in clinical trials. The drug, molnupiravir, reduced the risk of hospitalization or death by around 50% for patients with mild or moderate cases of Covid-19, the companies announced on Friday. Molnupiravir is administered orally and works by inhibiting the replication of Covid-19 inside the body. (Taylor, 10/1)

A University of Houston professor has developed a COVID-19 vaccine that can be administered through the nose, with hopes to soon test on humans. Dr. Navin Varadarajan, a professor of chemical and biomolecular engineering at UH, has devoted much of his post-doctoral work to immunology and understanding how the body protects itself. His background in immunology gave him the idea for an intranasal vaccine, which can be effective in triggering a strong immune response at the site of pathogen infection. (Garcia, 9/30)

Regeneron's combination of two monoclonal antibodies lowered the risk of COVID-19–associated hospitalization and death from any cause by 71% and resolved symptoms and reduced SARS-CoV-2 viral load faster than a placebo, a phase 3 clinical trial finds. (Van Beusekom, 9/30)

When the coronavirus infects cells, it not only impairs their activity but can also change their function, new findings suggest. For example, when insulin-producing beta cells in the pancreas become infected with the virus, they not only produce much less insulin than usual, but also start to produce glucose and digestive enzymes, which is not their job, researchers found. (Lapid, 9/29)

Critically ill COVID-19 patients who received extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO) at the end of 2020 had a higher mortality rate than those who received it in the first half of the year, according to a study published yesterday in The Lancet. Researchers looked at 4,812 COVID-19 patients 16 years and older who received ECMO in 2020 across 349 sites and 41 countries. Using May 1, 2020, as an arbitrary marker of the release of COVID-specific guidelines for ECMO, the patients were divided into three groups: those who received ECMO through May 1, those who received ECMO after that point, and those who received it after May 1 who were also at hospitals that didn't offer COVID-19–related ECMO until after May 1 ("late adopters"). (9/30)