Molnupiravir is effective in patients with haematological malignancies

• Published in: International journal of cancer Vol. 153; no. 6; pp. 1251 - 1256
• Main Authors: Bołkun, Łukasz, Pula, Bartosz, Kołkowska‐Leśniak, Agnieszka, Morawska, Marta, Cichocka, Edyta, Charlinski, Grzegorz, Garus, Bartosz, Giebel, Sebastian, Piszcz, Jaroslaw, Drozd‐Sokolowska, Joanna, Kwiatkowski, Jacek, Biernat, Monika, Hus, Iwona, Lech‐Maranda, Ewa, Długosz‐Danecka, Monika, Giannopoulos, Krzysztof, Wróbel, Tomasz
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Hoboken, USA John Wiley & Sons, Inc 15.09.2023; Wiley Subscription Services, Inc
• Subjects: Antiviral agents; Blood cancer; Cancer; COVID-19; Hematology; Immunosuppressive agents; Leukemia; Lymphoma; Malignancy; Medical research; molnupiravir; Myelodysplastic syndrome; Myelodysplastic syndromes; Patients; SAR‐CoV‐2; Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2; Vaccination; COVID-19; molnupiravir; SAR-CoV-2
• ISSN: 0020-7136; 1097-0215
• DOI: 10.1002/ijc.34442

Patients with hematologic malignancies are particularly vulnerable to severe infectious complications. SARS‐CoV‐2 infection is associated with a high risk of severe course and death in this patient population. In addition, immune deficits associated with both the blood cancer and the treatment used make vaccination against SARS‐CoV‐2 less effective than in immunocompetent individuals. Molnupiravir is one of the first oral antiviral drugs to demonstrate a significant benefit in reducing hospitalisation and death in COVID‐19 in the general population. In this context, 175 haematology patients with diagnosed COVID‐19, and treated with MOL between January and April 2022, came under our scrutiny with a view to defining their clinical characteristics and outcomes. The most common underlying conditions were lymphomas (45%), multiple myelomas (21%) and acute leukaemias or myelodysplastic syndrome (35%). Of all, 77% of the patients were vaccinated, and half of them received a booster. At 28 days after the breakthrough COVID‐19 diagnosis, 35 (20%) subjects required hospital admission. Out of those patients, seven (4%) died during the follow‐up due to the progression of COVID. Our results corroborate what has been established to date with regard to the positive clinical and safety outcomes of MOL in haematology patients with mild or moderate COVID‐19. What's new? SARS‐CoV‐2 infection is associated with a high risk of severe disease and death in patients with haematological malignancies, who are also less responsive to vaccination. Molnupiravir has been one of the first oral antiviral drugs to demonstrate a significant benefit in reducing hospitalisation and death due to COVID‐19 in the general population. However, the efficacy and drug tolerability of molnupiravir in patients with haematological cancer during the Omicron wave remain understudied. The results of our study corroborate the positive clinical and safety outcomes of molnupiravir in patients with haematological malignancies with mild or moderate COVID‐19 in daily clinical practice.