Drugmaker Siga Technologies announced on Tuesday that it would provide its therapy for mpox to Morocco.
The decision comes in response to a request from the country’s health ministry seeking protection against a potential outbreak of the disease.
While the antiviral therapy Tpoxx has been accessible in Africa through clinical trials and the World Health Organization’s emergency use access protocol to address the ongoing mpox virus outbreak, this agreement marks Siga’s inaugural commercial sale of the therapy on the continent.
The therapy is approved in the United States and Canada for smallpox treatment and authorized in Europe and the United Kingdom for smallpox, mpox, cowpox, and complications from vaccinia virus.
The Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention declared last month that the outbreak remains uncontrolled, following the WHO’s designation of it as a public health emergency of international concern in August due to the identification of the new variant.
Morocco has confirmed two cases of the disease this year, according to the WHO.