Clinical trials have started in the UK treating monkeypox patients with tecovirimate to speed up their recovery. The researchers hope that the blisters and wounds on the skin that are typical of the disease will heal faster.
The contagious blisters might heal faster with the drug
The British reports Guardian . The scientists hope that around 500 monkeypox patients will make themselves available for the study. They are given either tecovirimat or a placebo, which they have to take twice a day for two weeks. In order to research the effect of the drug, the patients also have to take swabs and fill out an online questionnaire for 28 days. The first results are expected around Christmas.
“A public health emergency is not regarding running around handing out pills that you think might work because they appear to do something,” explains Oxford University study leader Sir Martin Landray for the study: “It’s regarding finding out what actually works as quickly as possible and then acting on the results you see.”
The study aims to show that British scientists take monkeypox seriously
Lucy Chappell also agrees. The professor is Senior Scientific Advisor to the UK Department of Health. “It is crucial that we invest in the development, improvement and evaluation of treatments for this disease,” she explains of the UK policy effort to combat the monkeypox virus.
monkeypox: The most important questions and answers
Tecovirimat is a medicine that is also available in Austria for the treatment of smallpox, monkeypox and cowpox. It is already being used for monkeypox patients who need to be hospitalized for serious complications.
Nevertheless, the data for the effectiveness is once morest monkey pox so far rather poor. Here, too, the study should provide better reliable figures. “We commissioned this study to show how seriously the health research community is collectively tackling this issue,” explains Lucy Chappell,
