Drug Purchased by US Government to Combat Smallpox Also Works for Monkeypox

File this under “convenient”.

Back in November of 2021 – and hot off the heels of Bill gates warning about weaponized smallpox – American Partisan posted a report about how the US government had been spending hundreds of millions of dollars on TPOXX from SIGA Technologies. In Q4 of 2021 alone, the US government spent $113 million dollars on the drug.

What is TPOXX, which was first approved in 2018?

Our lead product is TPOXX, also known as tecovirimat and ST-246, an orally administered and IV formulation antiviral drug for the treatment of human smallpox disease caused by variola virus. TPOXX is a novel small-molecule drug and the U.S. government maintains a stockpile of TPOXX for treatment of smallpox. Over the past decade, the U.S. government has procured, or has current orders for, approximately $705 million of TPOXX for national preparedness. The oral formulation of TPOXX was approved by the FDA for the treatment of smallpox in 2018.

MechMedic was doing some digging on the drug, and came across an interesting point. The first line on the Wikipedia article?

Tecovirimat, sold under the brand name TPOXX among others, is an antiviral medication with activity against orthopoxviruses such as smallpox and monkeypox. It is the first antipoxviral drug approved in the United States.

The spectrum of Tecovirimat?

In cell culture assays, the effective concentrations of tecovirimat resulting in a 50% reduction in virus-induced cytopathic effect (EC50), were 0.016-0.067 µM, 0.014-0.039 µM, 0.015 µM, and 0.009 µM, for variola, monkeypox, rabbitpox, and vaccinia viruses, respectively. Ranges given for variola and monkeypox viruses are reflective of results from multiple strains assayed.

In addition, on January 22nd 2022, the US Department of Health and Human Services announced a new non-compete contract with Chimerix for a new smallpox drug. They wanted an alternative to TPOXX. This drug also targets the variola virus, which is the virus that drives the various pox alternatives. The name of the drug is brincidofovir, which is a prodrug of cidofovir. While there is no evidence that it works in humans against the virus, it has been proven effective against poxviruses in animal studies:

Data is not available on the effectiveness of Cidofovir and Brincidofovir in treating human cases of monkeypox.  However, both have proven activity against poxviruses in in vitro and animal studies. It is unknown whether or not a person with severe monkeypox infection will benefit from treatment with either antiviral, although their use may be considered in such instances. Brincidofovir may have an improved safety profile over Cidofovir.

Here we are, six months later, and Monkeypox is starting to make headlines as it moves across Europe and the United States.

Very “convenient” indeed