As the monkeypox cases spread globally, drugmaker, Siga Technologies said it had received orders worth about USD13 million for its oral smallpox drug that it expects to be used to treat monkeypox.
As the result of the news, the equities of the Siga jumped 9% on the news of the orders that come at a time.
There were more than 3,000 confirmed cases of monkeypox have been reported from 40 countries where the disease is not endemic. Monkeypox is a viral disease that causes flu-like symptoms and skin lesions, and is endemic in parts of Africa.
The World Health Organization will decide whether to declare monkeypox a global health emergency on Thursday, stirring criticism from leading African scientists who say it has been a crisis in their region for years.
The drug produced by Siga, Tpoxx, is approved in the European Union to treat diseases caused by the family of orthopoxvirus that includes smallpox, monkeypox and cowpox, while it is only approved to treat smallpox in the United States and Canada.
According to Siga, the orders include US$11 million worth initial procurement from two new countries in Europe and Asia Pacific and another US$2 million from a country in the Asia Pacific region which has an established contract for the drug.
Siga plans to deliver about US$4 million of oral Tpoxx under the two new contracts within the next 45 days, with the remaining order expected to be sent next year.
“We expect a portion of the courses of oral Tpoxx delivered under these orders will be used for the treatment of active monkeypox cases and represent a first step in the response to this outbreak by the global public health community,” Siga chief executive officer Phil Gomez said.
