US Stockpiles New Drug to Address Bioterrorism Risk

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The US Congress has taken steps to enable the development and approval of countermeasures to thwart pathogens that could be employed as weapons in order to address the risk of bioterrorism. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has recently approved a new drug for the treatment of smallpox, a pill stockpiled in case the virus is used as a bioweapon. TPOXX, a small-molecule antiviral treatment, is the first therapy approved for this biosecurity use.

It was developed by SIGA Technologies in partnership with the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA). According to the contract, 2 million courses of oral TPOXX have been delivered to the Strategic National Stockpile. In the event of a bioterrorism attack, Health and Human Services estimates that more than 1.7 million people could need treatment.

TPOXX works by preventing the smallpox virus from spreading to the rest of the body, thus containing the infection until the body’s immune system can fight off the disease, according to homelandprepnews.com.

Vaccination campaigns against smallpox in the United States ended in the early 1970s, and the virus was eradicated globally by 1980. Anyone born after that time is now highly vulnerable to the disease, according to officials at HHS. Also, small amounts of the variola virus still exist in research labs in the United States and in Russia, raising concerns about access to a virus that could be used as a weapon.