Eperimental Ebola drug heads to Africa after World Health panel gives ethical A-O-K!

An experimental drug created to treat Ebola made by the San Diego-based biotech firm Mapp Biopharmaceuticals Inc. had its first three doses used to treat two Americans and a Spanish missionary, and is now on its way to Liberia after the World Health Organization (WHO) unanimously concluded that it is ethical to offer experimental medication to fight Ebola.

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LOS ANGELES, CA (Catholic Online) - The two Americans, Dr. Ken Brantly and Nancy Writebol, are recovering, though Spanish priest Miguel Pajares died early in the morning of August 12.

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"The large number of people affected by the 2014 west Africa outbreak, and the high case-fatality rate, have prompted calls to use investigational medical interventions to try to save the lives of patients and to curb the epidemic," WHO said in a statement released on August 12.

WHO reports that it believes 1,848 people have been infected, and 1,013 have been killed, making it the deadliest Ebola outbreak in history. This is because traditional methods of stopping the spread of the virus are not working, and the health care systems of the affected countries are comparatively weak said Dr. Marie-Paule Kieny, WHO's assistant director-general.

"If these treatments can save lives . should we not use them to save lives?" She said the panel had asked.

Liberia requested access to the experimental drug in order to treat two local doctors who came down with Ebola after treating infected patients, and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved the request. Sample doses will be sent to Liberia within this week at no cost to all parties.

Mapp Biopharmaceutical said that its supply of the drug has been exhausted after fulfilling the request of a West African country, but Kentucky BioProcessing-which manufactures a version of the drug-is working to increase production.

"There are not adequate supplies of any of the investigational agents anywhere near ready for human use," said Dr. Jesse Goodman, director of the Center on the Medical Product Access, Safety and Stewardship at Georgetown University Medical Center, referring to all drugs being developed to potentially treat Ebola. "Not [adequate enough] to treat all the patients in this outbreak, even if we knew they worked."

Liberian Information Minister Lewis Brown said the Liberian government was aware of the dangers associated with using experimental drugs but "The alternative for not testing this is death, a certain death," he said.

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