On Jun. 25, 2020, SIGA Technologies announced the deliveries of oral TPOXX (tecovirimat) to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) for prevention of smallpox.

These deliveries, valued at approximately $32 million, were the initial deliveries of the contract option exercises announced in April 2020. SIGA’s full 19C BARDA Contract has up to approximately $414 million of procurement-related options remaining for future exercise.

Smallpox is a contagious, disfiguring and often deadly disease that has affected humans for thousands of years. Naturally-occurring smallpox was eradicated worldwide by 1980, the result of an unprecedented global immunization campaign. Samples of smallpox virus have been kept for research purposes. This has led to concerns that smallpox could someday be used as a biological warfare agent. A vaccine can prevent smallpox, but the risk of the current vaccine’s side effects is too high to justify routine vaccination for people at low risk of exposure to the smallpox virus.