Rebounds not unique to Paxlovid?

Several Substackers have been on the case of Paxlovid for leading to rebounds — essentially creating a scenario where individuals who may have otherwise stayed home and rested believe they are “cured” increasing transmission potential in the best case scenario. But snake oil is snake oil is snake oil regardless of the packaging. As it turns out, a recent study found that Molnupiravir may cause a similar, albeit more dire, effect.

The pre-print uses health data from the TriNetX research network and compares 13,644 patients over the age of 18 that took either Paxlovid or Molnupiravir, matching them using propensity scores, then looks at a variety of COVID-like symptoms to find out if they had a rebound within 7 and 30 days. The symptoms are probably where the largest chance for error can occur in this study as, in the usual fashion, they include fever, chills, cough, shortness of breath, muscle aches, headache, loss of taste or smell, sore throat, nasal congestion or rhinorrhea, vomiting, diarrhea, and skin rashes. As with most COVID studies, these symptoms seem broad and adverse events being stronger in Molnupiravir than Paxlovid (I have no idea if that is true), for example, could possibly explain the results.

In any case, the researchers found that there was no statistically significant difference in rebound rates between the drugs after propensity score matching. And though the rates were statistically the same, they were actually higher in the Molnupiravir cohort. Before propensity score matching (for those skeptical about the choice of variables included)? Even worse. Rebound rates were much higher in the Molnupiravir cohort.

Here’s the thing that makes Molnupiravir more dire, I would argue. Molnupiravir has very little if any efficacy to begin with.

New study OBLITERATES Paxlovid and Molnupiravir justification

Let that sink in for a second. If this study is correct and Molnupiravir causes rebounds at the same or with a higher rate than Paxlovid. Plus, Molnupiravir has little or no efficacy in general. Then, individuals who would have otherwise been fine in a few days without taking the drug are not only spreading the virus at a higher rate than they would have, but they are more likely to have a lasting infection and the consequences that come with any virus being in their system for long periods of time. Add in the potential side-effects of the drug and… well… yikes.

Imagine naming a drug so useless after Thor’s hammer.