6 ms·
"In July 2018, the Food and Drug Administration approved tecovirimat, the first drug approved for treatment of smallpox" even though "the global eradication of
by jart 5y ago
"In July 2018, the Food and Drug Administration approved tecovirimat, the first drug approved for treatment of smallpox" even though "the global eradication of smallpox was certified by the World Health Assembly on 8 May 1980" could a doctor please explain in what universe this makes sense?
- LeoPanthera 5y agoThe one where small vials of smallpox are occasionally found abandoned in lab freezers.
- jart 5y agoBiotech companies can create vaccines for new diseases within hours of receiving the source code. Why would pharma pay billions of dollars to get a treatment approved for an old disease zero people have?
- bluGill 5y agoThe rarer the disease the easier it is to get approved. Once approved you can tell doctors can use it for anything, and you can tell doctors what else it "might" work for. Doctors can then buy it for those other things, which they might do. You are supposed to study the other things, but that takes time and a lot more money (to be kind) Note, the above is an over simplification, good enough for discussion, but not for any other use. Those who the above is useful information for already know many finer details of the above, and how it varies from country to country.
- jart 5y agoThat's quite a regulatory hack. Thanks for explaining it to me.
- deleted 5y ago[deleted]
- Spooky23 5y agoBecause it is a disease which has been weaponized by the United States, United Kingdom and former Soviet Union at a minimum. Not only do diseases escape containment (there was a weaponized Smallpox outbreak in 1971 in the USSR, and Lyme disease is believed to have originated from Plum Island, 2 miles off of Long Island), but there’s a nonzero probability that you’ll have a planned release someday.
- jart 5y agohttps://youtu.be/ozg7gEchjuM?t=152 https://youtu.be/ozg7gEchjuM?t=152
- NaturalPhallacy 5y ago>Lyme disease is believed to have originated from Plum Island, Wait, what?!
- selimthegrim 5y agoNext we're going to be hearing about the Montauk Monster.
- goda90 5y agoI'm not a doctor, but from the looks of the wiki[0], it can be used for other viruses in the pox family. Also, smallpox is considered a major threat for bio-warfare, as multiple nations have it in deep storage. That's why the military is still vaccinated against it. [0]https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tecovirimat https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tecovirimat
- joe-collins 5y agoSmallpox is still retained in government labs in the US and Russia, and its genetic information is available and could allow for its synthesis from scratch. The fear is that a bad actor could create and/or set it loose as a bioweapon.
- zaptrem 5y agoThere is still the fear of accidental outbreaks from situations like OP, or biowarfare.
- jccooper 5y agoThe world in which smallpox is a potential weapon. Part of the research was done by the Army. It is also effective against other pox viruses.