Siga Technologies to supply mpox therapy in Morocco (updated)

SIGA Technologies

08/10/2024 13:20

(Adds details on the therapy in paragraphs 2-4, background in
paragraph 5-6)
       Oct 8 (Reuters) - Drugmaker Siga Technologies  SIGA.O 
said on Tuesday it would supply its therapy for mpox in Morocco
as part of a contract in response to a request from the
country's health ministry for protection against any potential
outbreak of the disease.
    Although the antiviral therapy Tpoxx has been available in
Africa through clinical trials and the World Health
Organization's emergency use access protocol to deal with the
current outbreak of mpox virus, this agreement marks Siga's
first commercial sale of the therapy on the continent.
    The therapy is approved in the U.S. and Canada for the
treatment of smallpox and authorized in Europe and the UK for
smallpox, mpox, cowpox and complications from vaccinia virus.
    The Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention stated
last month that the outbreak is not under control, after the WHO
declared it a public health emergency of international concern
in August upon identifying the new variant.
    Two cases of the disease have been confirmed in Morocco this
year, according to the WHO.

 (Reporting by Puyaan Singh in Bengaluru; Editing by Shilpi
Majumdar and Vijay Kishore)
 ((Puyaan.Singh@thomsonreuters.com;))