Siga gets smallpox drug orders worth $13 mln as monkeypox spreads (updated)

SIGA Technologies

23/06/2022 14:14

(Adds details on contracts and monkeypox)
    June 23 (Reuters) - Siga Technologies  SIGA.O  said on
Thursday it had received orders worth about $13 million for its
oral smallpox drug that it expects to be used to treat monkeypox
as cases spread globally. 
    Shares of the drugmaker jumped 9% on the news of the orders
that come at a time when more than 3,000 confirmed cases of
monkeypox have been reported from 40 countries where the disease
is not endemic.
    The World Health Organization will decide on Thursday
whether to declare monkeypox a global health emergency, stirring
criticism from leading African scientists who say it has been a
crisis in their region for years.  urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL1N2YA0FN
    Monkeypox is a viral disease that causes flu-like symptoms
and skin lesions, and is endemic in parts of Africa.
 urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL8N2Y32HZ
    Siga's drug, 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. 
    The orders include $11 million worth initial procurement
from two new countries in Europe and Asia Pacific and another $2
million from a country in the Asia Pacific region which has an
established contract for the drug, Siga said.
    Siga plans to deliver about $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.  urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nGNX7wzZT
    

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FACTBOX-Monkeypox cases around the world      urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL5N2XF1XF
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 (Reporting by Leroy Leo in Bengaluru; Editing by Amy Caren
Daniel and Shinjini Ganguli)
 ((Leroy.Dsouza@thomsonreuters.com ; Twitter: https://twitter.com/LeroyLeo7;))