SIGA Technologies gets UK approval for monkeypox drug

The approval comes on the back of more than 7,600 cases of monkepox being reported in over 50 countries where the disease is not endemic, including more than 1,300 in the UK. The WHO has reported three deaths, all of them in Africa.

SIGA Technologies Inc said on Friday the UK has approved its oral drug for the treatment of monkeypox amid a surge in cases globally. UK's approval for the drug tecovirimat, sold under the brand Tpoxx in the United States, is also for smallpox, cowpox, as well as complications caused by the smallpox vaccine, which uses a different virus from the same group called orthopoxviruses.

The oral drug is approved in the U.S. and Canada for only smallpox but has approval in the European Union for all three diseases and the vaccine complication. The approval comes on the back of more than 7,600 cases of monkeypox being reported in over 50 countries where the disease is not endemic, including more than 1,300 in the UK.

The WHO has reported three deaths, all of them in Africa.