The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention of the Ministry of Health and Welfare said today that Taiwan purchased oral antiviral drugs for monkeypox from abroad. people.
Zhuang Renxiang, deputy director of the CDC, announced at the press conference of the Central Epidemic Command Center in the afternoon that the first batch of overseas purchases of the oral antiviral drug tecovirimat for monkeypox will be distributed to each district control center of the CDC after the customs clearance and acceptance procedures are completed. Physicians will evaluate the treatment benefits and risks of the drugs, fully inform the patients and apply for them after obtaining their consent. After being reviewed and approved, they will be used for confirmed cases of severe and immunocompromised patients.
Zhuang Renxiang said that according to the recommendations of the World Health Organization (WHO) and the European Center for Disease Control (ECDC), most monkeypox patients do not need special treatment, and supportive treatments such as infusion therapy and maintenance nutrition are mainly used to reduce symptoms and complications. disease. The oral antiviral drug tecovirimat is recommended for severely ill or immunocompromised patients with confirmed monkeypox. tecovirimat is approved by the European Medicines Agency (EMA) for the treatment of orthopoxvirus smallpox, monkeypox and vaccinia; approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for the treatment of smallpox, and approved by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) project For the treatment of patients with severe disease or high risk factors for severe disease due to monkeypox virus infection, to reduce the chance of death.
On July 13, the Food and Drug Administration of the Ministry of Health and Welfare agreed to approve the import of its project in accordance with Article 48-2 of the Pharmaceutical Affairs Law. Zhuang Renxiang said that a total of 504 medicines were purchased this time, mainly considering that the medicines only need to be provided to seriously ill patients or those with low immunity. In the future, if necessary, they will continue to purchase. The vaccine part is still negotiating with the other party and is in the final stage of the contract.
Monkeypox was announced as a second-class statutory infectious disease on June 23. A total of 13 suspected cases have been reported, of which 2 were confirmed cases imported from abroad. The infected countries were Germany and the United States, and the remaining 11 cases have been ruled out; another since June From the 30th, the tourism epidemic situation in 49 countries with local or unknown monkeypox cases has been upgraded to “Level 2: Alert”. The CDC reminds that if Chinese people travel to these countries, they should avoid high-risk places such as social activities that may be in close contact with unspecified people. If you have symptoms, you should take the initiative to inform airline personnel and airport and port quarantine personnel, seek medical treatment as soon as possible, and inform the doctor of your travel history and contact history.
Responsible editor: Yu Weining