|
Research Highlights
Oral Smallpox Drug Earns Popular Science Award
Taken from the Veterans Health Administration Highlights dated November 22, 2002
An oral smallpox drug developed by a team led by VA researchers in San Diego was selected by Popular Science magazine as one of the five most promising developments in medical technology for 2002. The award is announced in the magazine’s December issue.
The drug, called hexadecyloxpropyl-cidofovir (HDP-CDV), stops the spread of smallpox and other poxvirus-caused illnesses in mice. It is now undergoing additional testing in animals, and will need to be tested in human clinical trials before it is made available for use. One advantage of the drug is that it can be administered orally, rather than intravenously, which would make it valuable in the event of a bioterrorist attack or other emergency.
The development effort was led by Drs. Karl Hostetler and James Beadle of the VA San Diego Healthcare System and the University of California, San Diego, in collaboration with scientists at the U.S. Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Disease and the University of Alabama.
|
