Oral smallpox drug shows early promise

ROSIE MESTEL LOS ANGELES TIMES

Scientists have developed a drug that could be a useful tool in the event of a bioterrorist attack with the smallpox virus.

The drug, which has been tested against smallpox in cell cultures or related viruses in animals, can be administered orally -- an important attribute for a medicine that might have to be given to many people quickly.

The findings, which haven't been published, were presented today at a conference in Prague in the Czech Republic. Experts said the drug could be an important step in developing a protective arsenal against smallpox.

Extinct in nature, the virus remains in two known repositories -- in the United States and Russia. U.S. intelligence officials believe smallpox stocks might also exist at other sites from which they could be used in an attack.

Experts stressed that the drug faces further tests before its safety and effectiveness against smallpox are known. Also, they said, a safer vaccine and more drugs with different modes of action are needed.

The work is the result of a collaboration by scientists in California, Maryland, Atlanta and Alabama. The drug was created after government scientists screened hundreds of existing drugs looking to see if they were able to interfere with the way the smallpox virus reproduces when grown in a cell culture.

The scientists found several candidates, including one -- called cidofovir -- that is used to treat viral eye infections. That drug, however, must be injected to be effective.

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