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Promising Mpox Drug Fails in Trials as Virus Spreads


In a trial in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, the drug tecovirimat, also known as TPOXX, was found to be no better than placebo at clearing mpox lesions.

As mpox continues to spread in Central Africa, a promising antiviral drug to treat the infection has failed to improve patients’ symptoms in a trial in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, the epicenter of the outbreak. In an unusual step, the US National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), which sponsored the study, announced the initial findings earlier this month prior to the full results being peer reviewed and published in a scientific journal. Since the beginning of this year, 13 African countries have recorded a total of 20,720 confirmed or suspected cases of mpox and 582 deaths, according to an August 25 report from the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention.

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