A pharmaceutical company in San Diego is behind a groundbreaking medicine given to the two Ebola victims from America.
The secret drug cocktail, called Z-Mapp, has not been tried on humans before, but has shown effective signs of improving symptoms in monkeys. The medicine was developed at Mapp Biopharmaceutical in Sorrento Valley and development of it has been in the works for 10 years.
Three experimental samples of the drug at subzero temperatures were flown to Liberia last week to save the two Americans infected with Ebola, according to CNBC.
Dr. Kent Brantly was given a dose and by the next day was showing signs of improvement – he was able to shower on his own and was taken back to the United States. After two doses, American patient Nancy Writebol’s condition also was improving.
Writebol will be taken to Emory University on Tuesday to receive more treatment where Brantly is being treated.
The drug, developed from antibodies in mice fighting the Ebola virus, was credited with saving four monkeys infected with Ebola after it was given to them 24 hours after infection.
On Monday, the death toll in the worst Ebola outbreak in history had hit 887. In total, there have been 1,600 Ebola cases this year, according to the World Health Organization.
Mapp Pharmaceutical has been operating for 11 years. In all, there are nine employees.
Z-Mapp is not FDA-approved. Use of it was granted under the FDA's "compassionate use" clause only given in extraordinary circumstances. There are only a handful of doses available.
