Three pharmaceutical companies have created separate experimental drugs for treatment of the Ebola virus. All three drugs have been approved for emergency use following expedited reviews by the US Food and Drug Administration, while the vaccine has been cleared for human safety trials.
Texas Ebola patient Thomas Duncan died on Wednesday after being treated with Brincidofovir, from the North Carolina company Chimerix. This drug, which was originally created to fight Smallpox, was used earlier this year to successfully treat a seven-year-old infected with an adenovirus after his immune system had been weakened by cancer treatment.
Vancouver-based Tekmira has received emergency clearance from US and Canadian authorities for its experimental drug TKM-Ebola, which was funded by the US Department of Defense. This drug has been used to treat the American Richard Sacra, who became infected while providing medical care in Liberia. After apparently successful treatment for Ebola during a three-week hospital stay in Nebraska, Dr. Sacra was re-admitted to a hospital in Worcester MA a week later, but was discharged within two days after treatment for a respiratory tract infection. However, it's not clear whether TKM-Ebola was instrumental in Dr. Sacra's recovery.
In August, ZMapp from Mapp Biopharmaceutical was used to successfully treat several other Americans who contracted Ebola while working in a Liberian hospital. It was the first time the drug had been administered to humans; previously, the drug was shown to be a promising treatment for Ebola-infected monkeys.
A scientist explained the difference in the workings of the latter two drugs:
ZMapp and TKM-Ebola work in different ways, said Thomas Geisbert, an Ebola expert at the University of Texas Medical Branch in Galveston, who helped develop the Tekmira drug. ZMapp is a cocktail of man-made antibodies designed to help the body's immune system fight off Ebola.
TKM-Ebola prevents the Ebola virus from reproducing, Geisbert said.
Meanwhile, the US National Institutes of Health has begun human safety tests of an experimental Ebola vaccine that has previously shown promising results with monkeys. Requirements for standard preclinical studies were waived by the FDA. The NIH plans to inject 20 volunteers with the vaccine over the next few weeks; each will receive $1,700.
(Score: 2) by buswolley on Friday October 10 2014, @03:38PM
Go Science!
subicular junctures
(Score: 2) by richtopia on Friday October 10 2014, @03:44PM
Don't get me wrong: I do not want ebola anywhere.
Over the last few days it seems like more people are discussing ebola. And the conversation is going from "that's horrible" to "something needs to be done". I've read that we could have created an ebola vaccine well before this outbreak, however the was insufficient demand. Now that it is real to Americans, perhaps the drive to finish these treatments will increase and they can get to the people who need it.
Still, developing medicine is expensive. Even with this need, there needs to be someone to pay for it.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by bob_super on Friday October 10 2014, @04:22PM
Fear will pay for it. The swine flu and avian flu treatments got a huge boost when the media went crazy and the governments bought millions of doses of anything remotely resembling a CYA.
(Score: 2) by Wootery on Friday October 10 2014, @05:18PM
The Onion delivers. [theonion.com]
(Score: 4, Insightful) by edIII on Friday October 10 2014, @08:11PM
While the Onion is funny, I have seen articles out already claiming that Duncan died from racism.
Why was he being treated with a protocol not even designed for Ebola? I heard ZMapp had run out, which hopefully is the case. I can understand why some people are screaming racism when two white people all of the sudden have Herculean efforts performed for them in regards to compassionate use and emergency transport for the serum, while the black foreign guy from Africa dies in the middle of a US hospital where Amazon.com can get me a scrunchy with same day delivery.
His care probably was substandard, not because of racism, but because it was a regular hospital with a US healthcare system. The two doctors previously were cured more by the efforts of CNN making their woes public and the CDC actually getting stuff done with Big Pharma.
Duncan unfortunately walked into a US hospital and they are just simply not set up to give people beds for a few days to watch them. He got ignored and sent on his way, which is something that happens to thousands daily. It wasn't racism, but you betcha people are claiming it right now.
Technically, lunchtime is at any moment. It's just a wave function.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by emg on Friday October 10 2014, @05:33PM
Hint for you: total deaths from Ebola in this outbreak are more than all the known deaths from Ebola in other outbreaks since it was first discovered. Heck, the number dying this week will probably be greater than that.
Oddly enough, people develop vaccines and cures for diseases that affect a lot of people, not those that affect a few in a single outbreak that dies out (mostly because all the possible hosts die or recover) before anyone could even be treated.
(Score: 2) by MrGuy on Friday October 10 2014, @05:00PM
Ah, the US Public health infrastructure! Taking advantage of poor people by experimenting [wikipedia.org] on them since at least 1932!
Seriously, $1,700 to be injected with an experimental vaccine whose effects on humans is unknown and unproven? Who signs up for that who's not in pretty serious financial straits?
(Score: 2) by emg on Friday October 10 2014, @05:29PM
I suspect you'll find there are plenty of people who'd pay $1,700 to be injected with an experimental Ebola vaccine right now. I doubt they'll have a hard time finding volunteers.
(Score: 2) by Foobar Bazbot on Friday October 10 2014, @06:22PM
On the other hand, a lot of people who would pay $1700 to participate wouldn't participate if paid $1700 -- whether that participation is in a vaccine trial or whitewashing a fence.
(Score: 2) by kaszz on Friday October 10 2014, @06:12PM
Makes me wonder too. Does it include free health care? with quality? Does it include disability insurance in case the capability to work is diminished?
Otherwise it's a really crappy deal.
(Score: 3, Interesting) by keplr on Friday October 10 2014, @07:52PM
injected with an experimental vaccine whose effects on humans is unknown and unproven
You can weigh that uncertainty against ebola's proven 70% fatality rate.
I don't respond to ACs.
(Score: 2) by MrGuy on Friday October 10 2014, @09:48PM
Yeah, but no. They're not trailing to people going to Ebola affected regions. Or people who have any reasonable chance of being exposed. This isn't a clinical trial. They're not yet trying to determine efficacy. Just safety.
This is "hey, we've got this stuff. We're not sure if will hurt or kill people. Can we inject it in you so we can find out?
(Score: 2) by cmn32480 on Saturday October 11 2014, @04:08AM
I believe that your information may be incomplete.
University of Maryland is giving it to healthcare workers in Mali, which, if Google Maps is to be believed, is not far from the infection zone.
http://wbal.com/article/110277/3/university-of-maryland-participates-in-ebola-vaccine-trials [wbal.com]
"It's a dog eat dog world, and I'm wearing Milkbone underwear" - Norm Peterson
(Score: 2, Informative) by NeoNormal on Friday October 10 2014, @05:31PM