Fig. 2: Therapeutic molnupiravir is efficacious against a panel of VOC in ferrets.
a Treatment and monitoring schematic. Ferrets (n = 6 total per VOC tested) were infected intranasally with 1 × 105 pfu of VOC and treated orally with vehicle or molnupiravir (5 mg/kg b.i.d.), starting 12 hours after infection. b Infectious SARS-CoV-2 titers in nasal lavages of vehicle or molnupiravir-treated animals. c Schematic of transmission studies with VOC alpha, gamma, and omicron. For VOC alpha, fresh source ferrets (n = 6) were used, for VOC gamma and omicron, transmission arms were added to b. Source animals were co-housed at a 1:1-ratio with uninfected and untreated contacts starting 42 hours after the beginning of treatment. Nasal lavages were obtained twice daily in the first 48 hours after infection, thereafter once daily. Nasal turbinates were extracted from source animals 4 days after infection and untreated sentinels continued for an additional 4 days. d–f Transmission study with VOC alpha (d), gamma (e), and omicron (f). Shown are infectious titers in nasal lavages (left), viral RNA copies in the lavages (center), and nasal turbinate titers (right). Symbols in b, d–f represent independent biological repeats (virus load of individual animals), lines (b, d–f) intersect group medians, and columns (c, e–g) show group medians ±95% confidence intervals. Statistical analysis with one-way (d–f turbinate titers) or two-way (b, d–f lavage titers) ANOVA with Tukey’s (d–f turbinate titers) or Sidak’s (b, d–f lavage titers) posthoc multiple comparison tests; P values are shown, NS not significant, LoD limit of detection. Source data are provided as a Source Data file.
