Columbia University In 2022, mpox infections surged in the United States and other Western countries, showing that a viral illness long considered endemic in central and western Africa was capable of traveling far and wide.
To treat patients, infectious disease physicians turned to an antiviral drug, tecoviromat, originally developed to treat smallpox in case of an outbreak. Though physicians hoped the drug would also work against mpox, a related virus, a large clinical trial co-led by Columbia’s Division of Infectious Diseases found otherwise. As reported in NEJM last month, the study found that the drug was no better than a placebo.
Study leader Jason Zucker, assistant professor of medicine at Columbia University Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons, spoke with CUIMC News to discuss where we stand with development of a treatment for mpox.
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