Siga Technologies won a U.S. government procurement contract worth $138 million to supply its smallpox antiviral Tpoxx for stockpiling.
Under the terms of the contract with the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), Siga will deliver $113 million worth of its oral version of Tpoxx and $25 million worth of the drug's intravenous form.
Siga expects to fully deliver oral Tpoxx this year and begin delivering intravenous Tpoxx in 2024 after it fulfills prior contractual obligations for the treatment, the company said in a July 31 press release.
In a statement, Phil Gomez, Saga’s chief executive, noted that the order builds on prior contracts for Tpoxx from "13 international customers and the U.S. Department of Defense in 2022."
Tpoxx, which was originally approved back in 2018 to treat smallpox, picked up a label expansion from the European Medicines Agency last year to treat monkeypox and cowpox.
The antiviral competes with Chimerix’s Tembexa, which was purchased by Emergent BioSolutions last year.