United States: The National Institutes of Health shared on Thursday that a drug called tecovirimat, used for treating mpox, did not actually help the patients recover faster than a dummy treatment (placebo) in a recent study.
This is important because, while tecovirimat has been used in Africa and during recent outbreaks in the U.S. and Europe, it hasn’t been tested much for mpox before.
Health Emergency Declared as Cases Rise
As reported by stat news, the study results came just after the World Health Organization said that mpox a public health emergency again, due to rising cases in Africa and a new case reported in Sweden from someone who travelled to an affected area.
Tecovirimat, which goes by the brand name TPOXX, was approved in 2018 for smallpox, which is a related virus that has been wiped out but still is considered a potential bioterror weapon.
Doctors expected it to also be useful for mpox since these are two related ‘illness causing’ organisms. However, most data where restricted to animal research with data from clinical case reports.
In the co-sponsored NIH trial, patients in the Democratic Republic of the Congo where the mpox is endemic were to receive tecovirimat or a placebo. There could be no outpatient treatment for any ailment as all patients needed to stay in the hospital for treatment.
Trial Details and Patient Outcomes
Both groups experienced similar rates of symptom improvement; the NIH pointed out that mortality was 1. 7% in both groups — less than the 3. As low as 6% are usually documented in the DRC — which means that the extensive, quality supportive care they got in the hospital can save lives even if the drug itself fails to.
“These findings are disappointing, but they give us essential information and reinforce the need to identify other therapeutic candidates for mpox while we continue research on tecovirimat use in other populations with mpox,” Jeanne Marrazzo, director or chair of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases who said in a statement.
Future Research and Clinical Implications
There are two clades of mpox and the study focused on the clade 1 which is endemic in the DRC and is considered to cause more severe disease. The 2022 global mpox outbreak was driven by a variant of clade 2 known as clade IIb.
Both the clades have contributed to the news global health emergency and can cause painful scarring rashes along with the fever and headaches muscle aches and respiratory symptoms.
The 2022 outbreak spend largely only through the sexual contact. The QHO has said a new variant of clade 1 and called clade called clade 1b has also spread via sexual networks although the virus can pass through other forms of contacts.