Author: Aimee Cunningham / Source: Science News
As bioterrorism fears grow, the first treatment for smallpox is nearing approval.
Called tecovirimat, the drug stops the variola virus, which causes smallpox, from sending out copies of itself and infecting other cells. “If the virus gets ahead of your immune system, you get sick,” says Dennis Hruby, the chief scientific officer of pharmaceutical company SIGA Technologies, which took part in developing the drug. “If you can slow the virus down, your immune system will get ahead.”
An advisory committee to the U.S. Federal Drug Administration unanimously recommended approval of tecovirimat, or TPOXX, on May 1. The FDA is expected to make its decision this summer.
Unchecked, smallpox kills about 30 percent of people infected and leaves survivors with disfiguring pox scars. Between 300 million and 500 million people died of smallpox in the 20th century before health officials declared the disease eradicated in 1980 after a worldwide vaccination campaign. For research purposes, samples of the virus remain in two locations — one in the United States, the other in Russia.
People haven’t been routinely vaccinated against the disease since the 1970s. So “it would be catastrophic if it were to reappear accidently or in the case of a bioweapon attack,” says molecular virologist Robin Robinson. He is…
The post The first smallpox treatment is one step closer to FDA approval appeared first on FeedBox.