Good Day BIO: We have monkeypox treatments – but must act fast

With health officials increasingly alarmed about the global spread of monkeypox, we have an exclusive interview on Bio.News with the CEO of SIGA Technologies, which manufactures an FDA-approved therapeutic being deployed against the virus. Plus, a new study shows consumers under 30 are more open to gene-edited foods, but consumer education remains essential. (710 words, 3 minutes, 33 seconds)

We have monkeypox treatments – but must act fast

FDA-approved vaccines and antivirals are already being deployed to fight monkeypox spreading around the globe—but in a Bio.News exclusive, one biotech CEO fears we’re not responding fast enough.

The situation: More than 5,000 monkeypox cases have been diagnosed in countries outside the disease’s typical range of Central and West Africa, affecting 51 countries with 90% of cases in Europe. While 10% of patients have been hospitalized—and none have died—WHO Europe Director Hans Henri P. Kluge urged a swift, aggressive response before the situation gets harder to control.

The WHO has been considering declaring monkeypox a Public Health Emergency of International Concern (PHEIC) which could help activate more global resources to help solve the growing crisis.

“The fear is there’s a very small window to interrupt transmission like this, that appears to be sustained, and I don’t see the response moving fast enough to interrupt that,”said Phillip Gomez, CEO of SIGA Technologies Inc., which makes TPOXX (tecovirimat), an antiviral being used against monkeypox. 

What we need to do now: “The key focus now is on rapid response, interrupting transmission, treating people, immunizing people, education to make sure we try and stop this before it becomes endemic broadly,” Gomez told Bio.News.

We have FDA-approved vaccines,as Bio.News previously reported. The White House recently announced it will distribute 1.6 million doses by the end of the year.

Antivirals are critical to the response, too—especially without a widespread vaccination campaign. SIGA’s TPOXX may be valuable as a prophylactic, administered with the vaccine to people who may have been infected to “reduce the strength and length of the infection,” Gomez noted.

It’s another lesson learned on the importance of focusing on virus families: “We worked on the first SARS vaccine,” said Gomez, speaking about his previous job at the NIH Vaccine Research Center. “In retrospect, we probably should have focused on coronavirus vaccines broadly, and started to develop pan-coronavirus vaccines, because obviously we saw MERS and then COVID-19. Orthopoxviruses, as we are now finding out, are not just a threat because of smallpox. We have monkeypox, which in Africa, the Central African strain has a 10% fatality rate.” 

Read the whole thing on Bio.News. 

Consumers under 30 more likely to try gene-edited foods

The study, published in Frontiers in Food Science and Technology, highlights the importance of educating consumers about gene editing and agricultural biotechnology.

The key finding: Consumers under age 30 are “less likely to avoid gene-edited foods,” reports Food Business News. Specifically, 40% of consumers 60+ would avoid gene-edited foods, compared to 22% of millennials and Gen Z. 

Educating the public is essential: “Those who view science and technology positively, trust agricultural biotech companies, and possess a good understanding of gene editing technology also are less likely to avoid gene-edited foods,” continues Food Business News. 

“Right now, there are a lot of people in the middle,”said Iowa State University senior research fellow and study co-author Christopher Cummings. “They have not fully made up their mind about gene-edited foods, but as they learn more about the technologies and products, they will likely move to one side of the issue. I think it will depend on their consumer experience — what kind of messaging they trust and who sends it, as well as what products they encounter.”

“This study highlights a need for better consumer-focused communication,”the authors concluded. “Moving forward, we expect that the US public’s willingness to eat and purposeful avoidance of gene edited food will change as they are engaged more readily on the developmental process and products in this area.”

About the study: Researchers from North Carolina State University, Iowa State University, and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers surveyed a “nationally representative sample of 2,000 U.S. residents,” and “plan to repeat the survey every two years for the next decade to track how public attitudes on gene-edited foods will shift as more products come onto the market,” says Iowa State University.

As the voice of science and for science, BIO continues to work to educate policymakers and the public about the science and benefits of gene-edited foods—read more about agricultural biotechnology on Bio.News.

President Biden’s Friday: He will deliver remarks at 11:30 AM ET on protecting access to reproductive health care services, then visit the CIA headquarters to commemorate the agency’s 75th anniversary.

What’s Happening on Capitol Hill: Enjoy the weekend, because Congress is officially back to work Monday (and we expect to hear more about drug pricing).