MONKEYPOX patients on the NHS will trial the first drug to treat the disease.
Scientists at Oxford University have discovered a life-saving Covid drug and now plan to wipe out the viral skin infection.
There is currently no cure for monkeypox, which has infected 3,017 people in the UK since May.
Patients simply self-isolate and wait for them to recover, which can take weeks.
Infected Britons are now given the antiviral drug tecovirimat, which stops the virus from spreading in the body by preventing it from separating from diseased cells.
Researchers hope the twice-daily pill will speed recovery, reduce painful skin blisters and rashes, and keep patients out of the hospital.
Professor Sir Peter Hobby, who led the trial, said: “Monkeypox is a distressing and sometimes dangerous infection.
“For the benefit of current and future patients around the world, we need solid evidence that tecovirimat is safe and effective.”
The first patient joined the platinum trial on Friday and is one of 500 to compare the drug with a placebo drug.
In this year’s global outbreak, monkeypox cases have been detected in at least 89 countries, the largest in history.
The virus is spread through skin-to-skin contact, and almost all cases in the UK to date have occurred in gay and bisexual men.
In addition to blisters, rashes, and sores on the skin, mouth, and genitals, symptoms include fever, tiredness, and muscle aches.
NHS clinics are rolling out the smallpox vaccine to high-risk groups, which has been shown to reduce the risk of the disease.
But the global vaccine supply is low, and there is still no treatment to speed up the recovery of those who are already infected.
Anyone diagnosed with monkeypox can participate in the trial, and they will be given two weeks’ worth of 600mg tecovirimat tablets to take at home while they self-isolate.
If the test is successful, tecovirmat (also known as TPOXX) will be the world’s first proven monkeypox treatment.
Last year, Professors Hobby and Professor Landley were both knighted for conducting the recovery trial, the world’s largest trial of a coronavirus treatment.
They found that the cheap and widely available steroid dexamethasone reduced the risk of hospital patients dying from Covid by a third.
Public Health Minister Maggie Throup MP said: “This government-funded research is an important step in the search for treatments that can help speed up the recovery of monkeypox patients.
“Led by the same experts behind the world-leading Covid-19 Recovery trial, this new monkeypox treatment trial will test the effectiveness of the antiviral drug tecovirimat in fighting the disease.
“Vaccines remain our best defense against the spread of monkeypox – we urge all eligible people to come forward when exposed and to report any symptoms to NHS 111.”