(Reuters) – Siga Technologies said on Thursday it has won a new contract for its oral antiviral drug, Tpoxx, worth up to $10.7 million from the U.S. Department of Defense as the country stocks up on the treatment amid a monkeypox outbreak. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) earlier this month issued a guidance for the expanded use of the drug, which is approved only for smallpox by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), to help tackle the monkeypox spread. Siga said it aims to deliver $5.1 million worth of oral Tpoxx drugs this year, with the remaining subject to the discretion of the department. The new contract follows another one from the DoD earlier this year for the procurement of $7.4 million worth of oral Tpoxx, with all drugs expected to be delivered this year, the company said.
The company also said in August the U.S. government would buy $26-million worth of intravenous formulation of Tpoxx for patients unable to swallow the oral pill as monkeypox symptoms include rashes and blisters in the mouth. More than 65,000 cases of monkeypox disease have been confirmed in over 90 countries where the disease is not endemic, with the World Health Organization declaring it a global health emergency in July. This has led to a flurry of orders for Siga, with the company earlier this week disclosing about $16 million in international procurement orders received in August and early September.
(Reporting by Leroy Leo in Bengaluru; Editing by Vinay Dwivedi)
