The Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare has created a new mechanism to administer a remedy for smallpox with similar symptoms for research purposes in case "monkeypox", which is spreading mainly in Europe and the United States, is confirmed in Japan. ..
According to the summary of the US CDC = Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, more than 4,300 cases of monkeypox have been confirmed in 48 countries and regions around the world by the 27th of this month.
For this reason, the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare has created a new mechanism that allows monkeypox patients to receive the oral drug "Tekobirimat," which was developed by an American pharmaceutical company as a treatment for smallpox, in case it is confirmed in Japan.
This drug is approved as a monkeypox drug in the EU = European Union, but it is not approved in Japan, so it is exceptionally approved as a "specific clinical study" to investigate the efficacy and safety of the drug.
The target of administration is that the patient weighs 13 kg or more and can continue to take the drug after being hospitalized at the National Center for Global Health and Medical Research Hospital in Shinjuku Ward, Tokyo for 14 days.
The Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare is also preparing a smallpox vaccine and improving the testing system in case a monkeypox patient is found.