EFFICACY OF FAVIPIRAVIR AND MOLNUPIRAVIR AGAINST NOVEL SARS-COV-2 VARIANTS IN VITRO AND IN VIVO

Andrey E. Sinyavin, L. I. Russu, D. V. Vasina, E. V. Shidlovskaya, N. A. Kuznetsova, V. A. Gushchin, A. L. Gintsburg

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

1 Scopus citations

Abstract

The COVID-19 disease pandemic remains a significant global problem, resulting in hundreds of millions of cases and millions of deaths. The search for specific inhibitors of SARS-CoV-2 for the treatment of this infection remains relevant. Drugs such as Favipiravir and Molnupiravir, which exhibit specific antiviral activity against SARS-CoV-2, are already being used to treat patients. However, there is limited evidence of their effectiveness, especially against novel genetic variants of the COVID-19 pathogen. The aim of this study was to investigate the antiviral effect of these drugs using an in vitro experimental model of SARS-CoV-2 infection in Vero E6 cell culture and an animal model of infection using Syrian hamsters. It has been established that Molnupiravir has an inhibitory effect against variants of the SARS-CoV-2 with IC50 values from 16.51 to 7.88 µM in vitro, and reduces the infectious titer of the virus in the lungs of animals by ~1.5 Log10 in vivo, in while Favipiravir shows lower activity and severe toxicity. Dose selection and frequency of use remain unexplored.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Pages (from-to)106-110
Number of pages5
JournalBulletin of Russian State Medical University
Volume2022
Issue number6
DOIs
StatePublished - Nov 2022
Externally publishedYes

Keywords

  • antiviral activity
  • antivirals
  • COVID-19
  • Favipiravir
  • Molnupiravir
  • Omicron
  • SARS-CoV-2

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • General Medicine

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