A new study published in the journal JAMA showed that the antiviral drug Tecovirimat was safe and effective in treating monkeypox symptoms and skin lesions. Tecovirimat (TPOXX) is an FDA-approved antiviral drug for the treatment of smallpox that limits the viral spread by inhibiting the work of the protein involved in releasing the enveloped virus.

Dr. Davis, lead author Angel Desai from the University of California, stated that they have very limited clinical data on the use of tecovirimat for monkeypox infection. There is much to learn about the natural progression of the disease and how tecovirimat and other antivirals may affect it. The recent global outbreak of monkeypox has led to more than 45,500 cases as of August 22, 2022. While symptoms usually resolve on their own in 2-4 weeks, a recent study showed that 13% of patients needed hospitalization.

In the new study, 25 patients(all male) with monkeypox were given tecovirimat therapy based on a weight-based method and it was taken within 30 minutes of a high-fat meal. The study revealed that 92% of patients had lesions in their genital or anal area. While all patients had painful lesions, around half had fewer than 10 lesions over their entire body. On average, the patients had symptoms or lesions for 12 days before they started their antiviral treatment. Among the other symptoms, fever was the most common symptom seen in 76% of the patients, followed by fatigue (32%), sore throat (20%), and chills (20%). Some of the other symptoms reported by the study were backache (12%), muscle pain (8%), nausea (4%), and diarrhea (4%).

All patients completed the tecovirimat therapy and tolerated their treatment well. They were treated for two weeks, except for one patient who was treated for 21 days. On day 7 of therapy, 40% of patients had healed from their lesions, followed by 92% of the patients showing a complete and pain-free recovery by the 21st day.