Canada offers experimental Ebola treatment as US supply runs out
Canada has entered into talks with the World Health Organization to provide an Ebola vaccine in Africa after the U.S. company that is manufacturing its own Ebola treatment announced it has sent the last of its supply to Africa.
Reuters reports the talks are a joint effort between Canada, the United States, and the World Health Organization. Canada currently has a small amount of the vaccine, but would need at least four to six months to manufacture more. Tekmira Pharmaceutial is producing the drug.
The news comes as the death toll from the current outbreak surpassed 1,000, reaching 1,013 at last count.
The Canadian vaccine has been shown to be effective in animals but it has yet to be tested on humans. The Wire reports that although the vaccine has not been tested on humans, the WHO has approved its distribution to humans despite the fact that it violates the normal ethics governing the testing of drugs.
The WHO has called the Ebola outbreak a global health emergency. The organization justified the decision to allow the distribution of a drug untested on humans by saying, "In the particular circumstances of this outbreak, and provided certain conditions are met, the panel reached consensus that it is ethical to offer unproven interventions with as yet unknown efficacy and adverse effects, as potential treatment or prevention."
The Washington Post reports that the supply of a new treatment produced by the U.S. firm Mapp Pharmaceuticals has run out. The drug is known as ZMapp. Because it is in such short supply and so many have fallen ill with the disease, the people who will receive the drugs are doctors and health care officials in the afflicted countries that have fallen ill with the disease.
