A clinical trial to investigate a medication against the viral infection was started at the University of Oxford due to the rise in monkeypox cases around the world and the shortage of immunizations.
The purpose of the tecovirimat placebo-controlled randomised study is to evaluate the effectiveness and safety of the medication.
Tecovirimat was initially created to combat smallpox and stop the virus’ spread inside of the body by preventing it from leaving afflicted cells.
After preliminary animal tests produced encouraging results, the Medicines and Health Products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) granted the medicine a licence to treat monkeypox.
Sir Peter Horby, Professor of Emerging Infections and Global Health at the University of Oxford, is in charge of the PLATINUM experiment, which is supported by a 3.7 million-pound grant from the UK government. It plans to enlist at least 500 volunteers, all of whom will receive either a placebo or a 14-day regimen of 600 mg of tecovirimat twice daily.
Since early May, there have been more than 40,000 confirmed cases of monkeypox, including a few fatalities, in more than 80 nations where the virus is not endemic.
The United States accounts for more than 35% of the total number of confirmed cases at this time, while the UK has more than 3,000 cases.
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