Safety

New compounds could result in smallpox drugs

Hospital Safety Connection, August 7, 2003

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Several compounds tested by drug firm ViroPharma are up to 200 times more potent in treating the smallpox virus than drugs derived from the anti-viral drug cidofovir, Reuters reports.

ViroPharma and the U.S. Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases tested the compounds in laboratory tissues infected with the smallpox virus. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention conducted the studies at its headquarters in Atlanta, the only site in the country authorized to produce authentic smallpox cultures.

The compounds were also effective when administered orally to animals, according to ViroPharma. An oral drug candidate to treat smallpox might be in human trials by mid-2004, a company official said. Animal and toxicology studies are expected to be complete by December.



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