The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has just green-lighted a drug for a disease that’s been eradicated since 1980. TPOXX (tecovirimat) is now the world’s first drug designed to treat smallpox and was approved on July 13, according to an announcement by the FDA.
Although the devastating disease hasn’t resurfaced in 40 years, the FDA has its reasons for approving the new drug. The move stems from concerns that the variola virus (pictured above) which causes this contagious and sometimes fatal disease may end up being used as a bioweapon.
“To address the risk of bioterrorism, Congress has taken steps to enable the development and approval of countermeasures to thwart pathogens that could be employed as weapons,” FDA commissioner Dr. Scott Gottlieb said in a statement on Friday.
“Today’s approval provides an important milestone in these efforts. This new treatment affords us an additional option should smallpox ever be used as a bioweapon,” Gottlieb pointed out.
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