"Merck COVID-19 Oral Treatment Raises Concerns Over Adverse Effects on Pregnant Women and Fetuses"

[Image source=Reuters Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Hyunwoo Lee] The New York Times (NYT) reported that the oral COVID-19 treatment developed by the U.S. pharmaceutical company Merck & Company (MSD) is raising concerns about potential adverse effects on the health of pregnant women and fetuses. There are growing safety concerns as the drug may affect fetal dividing cells, potentially causing congenital malformations.

According to the NYT on the 13th (local time), some scientists are worried that MSD's oral COVID-19 treatment, molnupiravir, could cause problems with human DNA, particularly affecting the DNA of mothers and fetuses, thereby posing a risk of congenital defects.

The NYT reported that a research team at the University of North Carolina recently conducted about a month-long experiments applying molnupiravir to hamsters and discovered that the drug induces DNA mutations. According to the research team, molnupiravir generates compounds similar to the ribonucleic acid (RNA) components of the coronavirus in the body, and these compounds cause errors in the virus's RNA, preventing the virus from self-replicating. The problem is that such errors could also occur in human DNA.

Similar concerns were raised at the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) advisory committee meeting on the 30th of last month, which recommended approval of molnupiravir. At that time, molnupiravir was recommended for approval by a narrow vote margin of 13 in favor and 10 against.

For the same reasons, the United Kingdom, which was the first country in the world to grant conditional approval for molnupiravir use earlier last month, prohibited pregnant and breastfeeding women from using the drug. Women of childbearing age were advised to use contraception during treatment and for four days after taking the drug.

As concerns about the side effects of molnupiravir have emerged, scientists have urged MSD to disclose all animal experiment results conducted to verify DNA mutations. Previously, MSD explained that "no signs of DNA mutation were found in our own animal experiments."

MSD reportedly stated to the FDA advisory committee that it will operate a program to monitor the condition of women who take molnupiravir during pregnancy.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.