Researchers at the Texas A&M College of Veterinary Medicine and Biomedical Sciences have received a grant to help treat mpox, formerly known as monkeypox. According to a Texas A&M University news release, the Texas A&M researchers and the University of Minnesota have received a $3.8 million grant from the National Institutes of Health to develop antiviral drugs for treating the disease, which creates a noticeable rash and blisters. Nearly three years ago, mpox made headlines when a global outbreak spread to all 50 states in the United States. While the outbreak has decreased in the U.S., mpox continues to devastate parts of Central and Eastern Africa. News release from Texas A&M University: Researchers at the Texas A&M College of Veterinary Medicine and Biomedical Sciences (VMBS) and the University of Minnesota have received a $3.8 million grant from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to develop antiviral drugs for treating mpox — formerly known as monkeypox — a disease that creates a noticeable rash and blisters. Mpox made headlines in May 2022 when a global outbreak spread to all 50 states in the United States. While the severity of the outbreak has decreased in the U.S. and other parts of the globe, mpox continues to devastate parts of Central and Eastern Africa, where the disease is endemic. “There have been two global emergency declarations related to mpox in just the last two years,” said Dr. Zhilong Yang, an associate professor in the VMBS’ Department of Veterinary Pathobiology who is co-leading the project. “There is a strong need for better treatments to help individuals with mpox and prepare for possible pandemics.” The new grant project will develop, optimize and test the efficacy of three promising compounds to see which provides the best protection against mpox. “This grant will provide us with resources so we can study these compounds and uncover exactly how they work,” said Dr. Zhengqiang Wang, a professor at the Center for Drug Design at the University of Minnesota’s College of Pharmacy. “Then, we must also optimize them — improve their ability to fight the mpox virus — and run tests to ensure they are safe. It’s a process that requires many steps and scientific components.” Mpox As A Global Threat While U.S. reporting on mpox has been quieter since the 2022 outbreak, the disease has been particularly prevalent in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), where more than 29,000 cases and 800 deaths were reported through 2024. According to Yang, those numbers may be much higher due to underreporting. “The World Health Organization (WHO) issued a second public health emergency of international concern (PHEIC) declaration in response to the 2023-24 outbreak in August 2024,” Yang said. “It is the highest-level alert they issue.” The WHO also issued PHEIC declarations for the mpox outbreak in 2022 and COVID-19 in 2020. “Think about that — in the two years since 2022, there have been two declarations for the same virus,” Yang said. “What most people don’t realize is that the 2022-23 outbreak was caused by a weaker version of the virus, Clade II, which has a death rate of less than 1%. “In August, the WHO declared that the current outbreak is because of Clade I, the stronger version that has a much higher death rate — up to 10%,” he said. “It is suspected that Clade I gains a higher transmissibility between humans, not just from animals to humans.” Understanding The Need For New Antivirals Although the mpox virus has been around since at least the 1950s, almost all of the available treatments are designed to treat the smallpox virus, a close cousin. “Mpox and smallpox viruses are both members of the orthopoxvirus family,” Yang said. “They are similar enough that smallpox drugs likely work on mpox, but research suggests that the current approved smallpox drugs are not very promising for treating mpox, and some emerging viruses are resistant to them. “A recent NIH clinical trial also indicates that the current approved drug, tecovirimat, doesn’t work very well on mpox,” he said. Some smallpox drugs can also be difficult to access because they are often purchased in bulk for national stockpiles, reducing the number of available doses. “Stockpiling is a strategy for responding to emergency outbreaks, even for diseases that are already eradicated,” Yang said. “If there should ever be an outbreak due to natural causes, or even terrorism, a stockpile helps a country respond much more quickly.” There are also big-picture reasons to spend more effort researching mpox treatments. “Research on mpox treatments will help scientists understand and develop treatments for other viruses in the poxvirus family that may emerge in the future,” Wang said. “Many viruses in this family are zoonotic and can spread between people and animals if an outbreak occurs.” “All viruses evolve,” Yang said. “We have to be prepared for them.”
