Trial To Treat Monkeypox At UC San Diego

(CTN News) – Human monkeypox will be studied at UC San Diego and other campuses across the country using the drug tecovirimat.

The drug Tpoxx is currently approved by the FDA for treating human smallpox caused by the variola virus, but it is not approved for treating monkeypox.

A randomized, placebo-controlled, double-blind trial is being conducted by the AIDS Clinical Trial Group and funded by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases. A member of the group is the Antiviral Research Center at UCSD School of Medicine.

“There is an urgent need for [monkeypox] treatments, and this study will help us determine whether tecovirimat should be among them,” said Dr. UCSD Health’s Susan Little is a professor of medicine and infectious-disease specialist who is a co-director of the Antiviral Research Center and a lead investigator for the UCSD trial. She is also a professor of medicine.

By participating in this study, people with confirmed or probable mpox in the San Diego region can contribute a great deal.

The monkeypox outbreak started in the spring and has spread to over 100 countries, with more than 75,000 cases in the United States alone. As of the most recent data, there were 440 cases in San Diego County.

It belongs to the same virus family as variola. Symptoms of mpox are similar to those of smallpox, but they are milder, and mpox is rarely fatal. Chickenpox is not related to MPox.

Approximately 500 adults with monkeypox virus infections will participate in the new trial, which will have more than 60 sites.

It will include people with or at high risk of severe disease, including those who are pregnant or breastfeeding, as well as children and those with underlying immune deficiency and active inflammatory skin conditions, who will receive open-label tecovirimat, a university statement said.

Participants will be followed for at least eight weeks through virtual and in-person visits and daily self-reports to determine whether tecovirimat accelerates healing compared with placebo.

In addition to providing data on optimal dosing and safety of tecovirimat, the study will also assess its use in children and women who are pregnant or breastfeeding.

In endemic countries, primarily parts of Africa, monkeypox has been detected since 1958. The current outbreak has primarily been characterized by increased person-to-person transmission. In the opinion of the CDC, close contact during sexual activity contributes to the outbreak.

The majority of cases have been reported among men who have sex with men. Women and children have also been infected, as have men who have sex with women. There are no approved therapies to treat human monkeypox.

Are monkeypox painful?

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