CDC, NIH, FDA lead­ers call for US-based clin­i­cal tri­al of small­pox drug in treat­ing mon­key­pox

With the ris­ing num­ber of mon­key­pox cas­es, lead­ing re­searchers at the CDC, FDA and NIH are call­ing on a ran­dom­ized clin­i­cal tri­al to see if an ap­proved small­pox drug is ef­fec­tive at treat­ing mon­key­pox.

No mon­key­pox treat­ments are ap­proved in the US, so pa­tients look­ing to get re­lief for their le­sions and oth­er symp­toms from the virus must go through a set of hur­dles to get the small­pox drug through a gov­ern­ment ex­pand­ed ac­cess pro­gram. Ap­proved for small­pox in 2018, the drug is mar­ket­ed as TPOXX by the biotech SIGA. The Eu­ro­pean Union ap­proved it for mon­key­pox in ad­di­tion to small­pox ear­li­er this year and the UK fol­lowed suit in Ju­ly.

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