Redallnite
03-20-02, 09:47PM
U.S. scientists reported on Wednesday they had developed an oral drug that holds promise for treating smallpox, the deadly and highly contagious virus that experts fear could be used in a bioterror attack.
http://news.aunz.yimg.com/xp/reutersworld/20020321/1477009465.jpg
The drug is a derivative of cidofovir, an antiviral medicine also investigated for treating smallpox infection. But cidofovir must be given intravenously, a major drawback in an attack requiring quick treatment for a large number of people.
Scientists said it would take up to two years to discover whether the oral drug might help people exposed to smallpox.
Initial tests were encouraging. The drug, called hexadecyloxypropyl-cidofovir, or HDP-CDV, stopped the smallpox virus from reproducing in laboratory tests and saved mice from death from a related virus.
"An oral drug would be particularly useful, and this certainly looks like it is heading down that way toward being a viable candidate," said John Huggins, who tested the drug in mice at the U.S. Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases in Fort Detrick, Maryland.
Smallpox, caused by the variola virus, was wiped from the planet more than two decades ago, but experts fear people secretly holding samples could unleash the virus in a biological attack. The virus spreads quickly and kills 30 percent of the people it infects.
There is no treatment, although giving a vaccine shortly after exposure can prevent illness. The vaccine, however, can have serious side effects, and the U.S. government has pressed researchers to find alternatives. Efforts accelerated after last fall's anthrax attacks.
Scientists at the Veterans Affairs San Diego Healthcare System and the University of California at San Diego started work in 1999 to develop an oral form of cidofovir, sold by Gilead Sciences Inc. GILD as Vistide to treat an AIDS complication. They came up with HDP-CDV, and sent it to a secure lab at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta for tests against smallpox cultures.
http://news.aunz.yimg.com/xp/reutersworld/20020321/1477009465.jpg
The drug is a derivative of cidofovir, an antiviral medicine also investigated for treating smallpox infection. But cidofovir must be given intravenously, a major drawback in an attack requiring quick treatment for a large number of people.
Scientists said it would take up to two years to discover whether the oral drug might help people exposed to smallpox.
Initial tests were encouraging. The drug, called hexadecyloxypropyl-cidofovir, or HDP-CDV, stopped the smallpox virus from reproducing in laboratory tests and saved mice from death from a related virus.
"An oral drug would be particularly useful, and this certainly looks like it is heading down that way toward being a viable candidate," said John Huggins, who tested the drug in mice at the U.S. Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases in Fort Detrick, Maryland.
Smallpox, caused by the variola virus, was wiped from the planet more than two decades ago, but experts fear people secretly holding samples could unleash the virus in a biological attack. The virus spreads quickly and kills 30 percent of the people it infects.
There is no treatment, although giving a vaccine shortly after exposure can prevent illness. The vaccine, however, can have serious side effects, and the U.S. government has pressed researchers to find alternatives. Efforts accelerated after last fall's anthrax attacks.
Scientists at the Veterans Affairs San Diego Healthcare System and the University of California at San Diego started work in 1999 to develop an oral form of cidofovir, sold by Gilead Sciences Inc. GILD as Vistide to treat an AIDS complication. They came up with HDP-CDV, and sent it to a secure lab at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta for tests against smallpox cultures.