There's a drug called
Molnupiravir, which seems to work against Covid. Would this help with dsRNA? I'm not sure
Molnupiravir is still in the initial stages of research, it's safety has not yet been established.
Molnupiravir is a
direct-acting antiviral drug (DAA) against RNA viruses, which simply means that the drug acts directly against a viral protein, not via some indirect antiviral effect.
Most direct-acting antiviral (DAA) drugs work either by targeting a
viral protease protein or by targeting a
viral polymerase protein. DAA that target a viral protease protein are generally called
protease inhibitors. DAA that target a viral polymerase protein are either called a
nucleoside analogue polymerase inhibitor or a
non-nucleoside analogue polymerase inhibitor, depending upon how the drug interacts with the viral polymerase protein.
Nucleoside analogue polymerase inhibitors can be further divided into
chain-terminating nucleoside analogues and
mutagenic nucleoside analogues, depending upon how many drug molecules are needed to block a single strand of viral RNA from replicating itself. Whereas chain-terminating nucleoside analogues only need one or two drug molecules to block a single strand of viral RNA, mutagenic nucleoside analogues require many drug molecules to block a single strand of viral RNA.
As you might expect, the effective dosage for a mutagenic nucleoside analogue is much higher than the effective dosage for a chain-terminating nucleoside analogue. These much higher doses can turn minor side-effects into major safety considerations.
Unfortunately, molnupiravir is a mutagenic nucleoside analogue, so there is a large risk that it will not pass safety trials. But let's certainly hope for the best!
