Business | Poxy no more

Makers of monkeypox drugs face a rash of orders

Defeating a worldwide outbreaks falls on two small drugmakers

Framingham, MA - July 18: Doses of the Smallpox and Monkeypox Vaccine, by the company Jynneos, being prepped at the JRI Health clinic, in Framingham, MA. (Photo by Pat Greenhouse/The Boston Globe via Getty Images)

Sep 15th 2022|Copenhagen

Monkeypox isn’t covid-19. Since May the viral disease has infected 35,000 people in 92 countries, less than one-tenth as many as covid infects in a day. Though symptoms, including fever, headaches, muscle aches and a pus-filled rash, can be nasty, it seldom causes death. Critically, in contrast to covid, both a vaccine and a treatment predate the current epidemic. Their makers, two smallish drug companies, are struggling to keep up with demand.

This article appeared in the Business section of the print edition under the headline “A rash of orders”