Dr. Stephen Griffin, virologist and associate professor at the University of Leeds (
here), told Reuters that molnupiravir is not repackaged ivermectin.
The two drugs have “dissimilar chemistry,” he said. “There is no way that Merck is doing this,” he said.
“Molnupiravir is a derivative of a nucleotide that, predictably, interferes with the RNA replication of the virus. While Ivermectin does also have a defined mechanism of action, BUT it’s against ion channels found in parasites,” Griffin said.
Information profiles are viewable on Drugs.com for molnupiravir (
here) and ivermectin (
www.drugs.com/ivermectin.html).
Paul Auwaerter, the Clinical Director of the Division of Infectious Diseases (
here) at Johns Hopkins Medicine told Reuters via email that the only similarity the two drugs have is that they “have been brought to the FDA for market approval by the Merck Company.”
The professor pointed to structural differences between the two drugs, which can be explored in papers
here and
here and drug class differences. “Ivermectin is classified as a macrocyclic lactone. It is derived from Streptomyces avermitilis which is a bacterium." Molnupiravir, rather, is classified as a nucleoside analog (like some HIV medications) and works as an antiviral, he said.
And just an FYI. 1% of 330,000,000 is 3,300,000. I am glad you take solice in the fact that 1% is a small number.
