EFFICACY OF THE ANTIPOXVIRUS COMPOUND ST-246 FOR TREATMENT OF SEVERE ORTHOPOXVIRUS INFECTION
- 1 April 2007
- journal article
- Published by American Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene in The American Journal of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene
- Vol. 76 (4) , 768-773
- https://doi.org/10.4269/ajtmh.2007.76.768
Abstract
Efficacy of the new antipoxvirus compound ST-246 was evaluated as treatment of monkeypox (MPX) virus infection in a ground squirrel model of the disease. Ground squirrels were given a lethal dose of MPX virus and were then treated orally at various times post-inoculation (pi) with 100 mg/kg/day of ST-246. Morbidity and mortality, clinical laboratory results, viral load, and pathology of placebo and treatment groups were compared. All animals that started treatment with ST-246 on days 0, 1, 2, and 3 pi survived lethal challenge with MPX virus; 67% of animals treated on day 4 pi also survived. In contrast, 100% of the placebo group died. Most of the ST-246-treated animals showed no evidence of clinical disease or alteration of baseline clinical laboratory values and had minimal histopathologic changes. These results suggest that ST-246 is a promising candidate for early treatment of severe orthopoxvirus infection.Keywords
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