ZMapp: US declines Nigeria's request to take delivery of ebola trial drug saying it is to early

A colorized transmission electron micrograph of the Ebola virus virion, created by CDC microbiologist Cynthia Goldsmith. Credit: CDC Public Health Image Library

US health officials have dismissed calls by Nigeria to be provided with samples of the ebola trial drug pointing out that the serum is still undergoing tests and it is too early to use it on humans.   Earlier this week, Nigeria's health minister Professor Onyebuchi Chukwu, wrote to the US Centre for Disease Control (CDC) asking it to send samples of the experimental serum currently being worked upon that is believed to be a cure to ebola. Apparently, the two US citizens who contracted the ebola virus in Liberia showed signs of recovery after receiving the experimental treatment.   Several US pharmaceutical companies have stepped up trials on a number of drugs that may cure the virus but they are yet to get US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) clearance to commence commercial sales. Anthony Fauci, the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, confirmed that he is working with the FDA to fast track at least one vaccine into a Phase One clinical trial this autumn.   Hoping to be allowed use of the serum to treat the growing number of cases in Nigeria, Professor Chukwu wrote to the US CDC asking that they avail Nigeria with the serum. However, yesterday, President Barack Obama said it would be premature to share the experimental drug with Africa.   Addressing the 50 African leaders at the US-African Summit in Washington, President Obama said it would be far more beneficial to focus on prevention instead. He added that he lacked enough information to approve the drug.   President Obama said: “We’ve got to let the science guide us and I don’t think all the information is in on whether this drug is helpful. The ebola virus, both currently and in the past, is controllable if you have a strong public health infrastructure in place.   “The countries affected are the first to admit that what’s happened here is the public health systems have been overwhelmed as they weren’t able to identify and then isolate cases quickly enough. As a consequence, it spread more rapidly than has been typical with the periodic ebola outbreaks that occurred previously."   Developed by a San Diego Company, Mapp Biopharmaceutical, the experimental serum had never been tried before on human beings but had shown promise in small experiments with monkeys. As a palliative, President Obama announced plans by the US to spend $110m annually over the next three to five years, totalling between $330m and $550m, to help African nations.   This experimental drug is a three-mouse monoclonal antibody, meaning that mice were exposed to fragments of the ebola virus and then the antibodies generated within the mice’s blood were harvested to create the medicine. It works by preventing the virus from entering and infecting new cells.   Company documents show that four monkeys infected with ebola survived after being given the therapy within 24 hours after infection. Two of four other monkeys that started therapy within 48 hours after infection also survived, while one monkey that was not treated died within five days of exposure to the virus. -


https://petitions.whitehouse.gov/petition/release-experimental-drug-zmapp-africa/9bYrqL09