Researchers in the United Kingdom (UK) announced today they are leading a new clinical study investigating a potential treatment for people who have been diagnosed with monkeypox infections.

'Although the early data on tecovirimat (TPOXX®) use are promising, only a randomized clinical trial will provide the evidence we need to treat patients with confidence.'

SIGA Technologies, Inc.'s TPOXX (tecovirimat) is a novel small-molecule drug.

The study involves experts from the UK Health Security Agency, Chelsea and Westminster Hospital NHS Foundation Trust, and the University of Liverpool, who have experience in the clinical assessment and laboratory analysis of human monkeypox infections.

The first patients have now been recruited for the PLATINUM study.

"In a public health emergency, the response is not about rushing around dishing out tablets that you think might work because that is seen to be doing something," said Prof Sir Martin Landray, a joint chief investigator of the trial at the University of Oxford, reported The Guardian on August 23, 2022.