Evidence of viral resistance to COVID-19 drug Paxlovid found

New Delhi: A new research provided evidence of viral resistance to Paxlovid among SARS-CoV-2 variants currently circulating globally, indicating that this stand-alone drug could soon become less effective in treating COVID-19 infections.

The research showed that simple single amino acid changes in SARS-CoV-2 main protease could severely undermine efficacy of these antiviral drugs.

The study, conducted by the Midwest Antiviral Drug Discovery (AViDD) Center, US, is published in the journal Science Advances.

Scientists showed that drug-resistant variants have appeared multiple times independently in different parts of the world, with regional clusters providing evidence for person-to-person transmission.