The 2022 Monkeypox outbreak: How the medicinal chemistry could help us?

Monkeypox disease is a zoonosis that has the monkey virus (MPXV) as its etiologic agent, an enveloped double-stranded DNA virus that has caused some severe cases, leading to 3-6% fatality ratio. MPXV exhibits similar symptoms to those observed for Smallpox infection. Human-to-human transmission occurs via droplet respiratory particles and close contact with skin lesions of an infected person or recently contaminated objects. MPXV symptoms include fever, intense headache, back pain, myalgia, severe asthenia, lymphadenopathy, and skin eruption. The 2022 outbreak is growing, spreading over 75 countries/territories. Based on this, the MPXV outbreak was declared a “public health emergency of international concern” by WHO. In 2019, a vaccine-based modified attenuated vaccinia virus (Ankara strain) was approved for MPXV prevention. However, its availability remains limited. Besides, there are no approved or licensed drugs to treat MPXV currently. However, tecovirimat was licensed by the European Medicines Agency (EMA) to treat MPXV infections. Notwithstanding all these aspects and limitations associated with MPXV, How the medicinal chemistry could help us?