U.S. STOCKPILING EXPERIMENTAL SMALLPOX MEDICINE
According to a March 12, 2013, New York Times article, “The United States government is buying enough of a new smallpox medicine to treat two million people in the event of a bioterrorism attack and took delivery of the first shipment of it last week.” The drug has not been approved by the FDA except for use in emergencies and it has never been tested on smallpox in humans because the disease was eradicated by 1980. Why is the government paying over $230 a course instead of the $5 to $10 a course predicted when stockpiling a smallpox drug was first proposed in 2001 after the September 11 and anthrax attacks? Why have they ordered so many doses of an unproven drug? Why haven’t the stockpiles of smallpox being held by Russia and U.S. been destroyed as recommended by WHO?
Check out these articles:
The U.S. is stockpiling smallpox drugs in case of a biological attack
U.S. Will Save Last Smallpox Stockpiles, Just In Case