Last May, Cerballiance participated in the diagnosis of the first patient infected with monkeypoxvirus.
Thanks to the sample taken from the first patient suspected of carrying monkeypox in France, Rhea Khoury, a clinical pathologist at Cerballiance, immediately alerted the National Reference Centre for Orthopoxvirus, which subsequently performed the orthopoxvirus PCR, confirming the diagnosis.
Once a diagnosis is made, in general, a simple symptomatic treatment is necessary. However, for patients who develop or are likely to develop a severe form of the disease (e.g. immunocompromised individuals, pregnant women, or young patients) an infectious disease doctor may prescribe treatment using antivirals, including tecovirimat as first-line treatment.
A study published in the prestigious scientific journal Nature in early November confirmed the efficacy of tecovirimat in the treatment of Mpox. By isolating and sequencing the virus from the first strain of monkeypox taken from the Cerballiance laboratory, the authors have proven that tecovirimat was effective even at very small concentrations.
This extremely short-term study validated the prescription of an antiviral subject to a simple TAU (temporary authorisation for use) and confirms the use of tecovirimat in ongoing clinical trials in humans.