Monkeypox: US Gov’t Leaders Say Tpoxx Needs Randomized Control Trial Before Treatment For All

Media reports have emphasized the public’s frustration with gaining access to Tpoxx, an antiviral that may help treat monkeypox. But top officials at FDA, CDC and NIH defend the need to study the drug more first, even as they note they are making expanded access easier.

hand pulling paper out of jar
Federal officials say randomized research, not just expanded access, needed for potential monkeypox treatment • Source: shutter stock

Federal officials make the case for studying Tpoxx (tecovirimant) for monkeypox in randomized controlled trials in an opinion piece in the New England Journal of Medicine on 3 August, amidst clamor for the drug under expanded access and criticism of the hoops required to get the drug through that compassionate use process.

Authors of the NEJM piece, led by US Food and Drug Administration Office of Infectious Diseases Deputy Director Adam Sherwat,...

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