Smallpox is an old infectious disease that has been eliminated worldwide through vaccination. the cause of this disease is the variola virus, which has spread from person to person. Affected individuals develop a high fever and a characteristic rash. this disease kills up to one-third of those infected and leaves survivors with disfiguring pox scars. Between 300 and 500 million people died of smallpox in the 20th century before health authorities declared the eradication of the disease in 1980 after a worldwide vaccination campaign. Although the disease has disappeared, samples of the virus still exist in high-security laboratories in the United States and Russia. This has led to concerns about the use of the virus in biological warfare. For this reason, some soldiers are vaccinated against smallpox.
While fears that the disease may be used as a biological weapon have increased in light of the anthrax attacks and other terrorist acts of this century related to bioterrorism , the first smallpox treatment is approaching.
Called tecovirimat, the drug prevents the virus from sending copies of itself and infecting other cells and in this way it stops its spread in the body and its development. This slackening in its spread in the body allows to give the necessary time to the immune system to develop an adequate response.“If you can slow the virus down, your immune system will get ahead.” says Dennis Hruby, chief scientific director of the pharmaceutical company SIGA Technologies, which has been involved in drug development. In monkeys and rabbits infected with smallpox-related viruses, tecovirimat prevented the death of approximately 90% of animals, says Phil Gomez, CEO of SIGA. Almost all animals that have not received the drug are dead.
An advisory committee of the US Food and Drug Administration unanimously recommended the approval of tecovirimat, or TPOXX, on May 1st. The FDA should make its decision this summer. Its approval by the FDA would open the door to the study of the drug for other uses such as in the treatment for related poxviruses, ensure the supply of the drug and encourage other countries to place the drug in their stocks. emergency in case of unexpected emergence of this virus.
Since the 1970's people have not been systematically vaccinated against the disease, which leaves a very favorable ground for the development of this virus on a large scale, “it would be catastrophic if it were to reappear accidently or in the case of a bioweapon attack,” Says Robin Robinson a molecular virologist and former director of the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (a federal agency focused on protecting against biological and other threats and contributing to drug development)
Two million TPOXX treatments are already in the US strategic national stock of drugs and supplies for public health emergencies, a move allowed under emergency preparedness legislation according to Gomez.