As mpox continues As the epidemic spreads in Central Africa, a promising antiviral drug to treat the infection has failed to improve patients’ symptoms in clinical trials in the Democratic Republic of Congo, the epicenter of the outbreak.
In the trial, the drug tecovirimat, also known as TPOXX, did not reduce the characteristic blister-like rash seen in patients with MPOX, formerly known as monkeypox. Unusually, the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), which sponsored the study, announced its initial findings. Earlier this month before the full results are peer-reviewed and published in a scientific journal.
Lori Dodd, branch chief of NIAID’s clinical trials, research and statistics division, told WIRED that the institute published its initial results “because of the urgent need for scientific evidence on the use of tecovirimat to treat MPOX,” an urgency that she said was heightened by the World Health Organization’s designation of the MPOX epidemic in Central Africa as an “emergency treatment.” International Public Health Emergency It was announced on August 14th. This is the second declaration in two years.
This is particularly disappointing as Central African countries continue to struggle to contain the spread of MPOX: A total of 20,720 confirmed or suspected MPOX cases and 582 deaths have been recorded in 13 African countries since the start of the year. August 25th Report From the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention.
Monday, World Health Organization Launched a six-month strategic plan The plan aims to contain the outbreak. The plan, estimated to cost $135 million, will include strengthening surveillance and improving access to testing and vaccines. “The MPOX outbreak in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and neighbouring countries is controllable and can be stopped,” WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said in a statement.
Although a vaccine has been approved to prevent MPOX, there are no drugs approved to treat the disease. Approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration in 2018 It was developed as a treatment for smallpox and related viruses, and in 2022 began clinical trials as a smallpox treatment in response to the smallpox pandemic. The drug is also available in the United States as a smallpox treatment through an expanded access program, allowing doctors to treat smallpox patients. Investigational Drug Outside of clinical trials, in the UK and Europe, TPOXX was approved for the treatment of mpox under exceptional circumstances, without comprehensive data on its efficacy.
As part of a clinical trial in the Democratic Republic of Congo, nearly 600 participants were randomly assigned to receive either tecovirimat or a placebo and were closely monitored in hospital for at least 14 days. All participants received supportive care, including nutrition, hydration, and treatment of secondary infections. The drug was found to be safe but was no better than a placebo at clearing lesions in patients.
Of note, mortality was low, and patients’ lesions healed more quickly than expected, whether they received Tecovirimat or a placebo. Mortality across the study’s participants was 1.7 percent, regardless of whether they received the drug, far lower than the MPOX mortality rate of more than 3.6 percent in all cases reported in the Democratic Republic of Congo.
