Why Did Two Americans Get a Secret Serum to Fight Ebola? The medicine is a three-mouse monoclonal antibody, meaning that mice were exposed to fragments of the Ebola virus and then the antibodies generated within the mices blood were harvested to create the medicine. It works by preventing the virus from entering and infecting new cells. In other words, the serum, named ZMapp, is a cocktail of antibodies, all proven to have effectively battled Ebola out of mice, that have been extracted for further testing. But before the serum got there, the outbreak occurred, resulting in its use now. Even without FDA approval, Gupta writes, the serum may have been given under the Agencys compassionate use regulation, allowing it to be administered in a time of emergency. The serums use in the Americans’ case is simple enough to follow. In a statement to The Wire, the NIH outlined just how the Americans ended up receiving experimental treatment: Samaritan’s Purse contacted CDC officials in Liberia to discuss the status of various experimental treatments that they had identified via a search from the literature. CDC officials referred them to an NIH scientist who was on the ground in West Africa assisting with outbreak response efforts and broadly familiar with the various experimental treatment candidates. The scientist was able to informally answer some questions and referred them to appropriate company contacts to pursue their interest in obtaining experimental product. She was not officially representing NIH and NIH did not have an official role in procuring, transporting, approving, or administering the experimental products administered to the two U.S. patients.” But, the statement concludes, the manufacturer Mapp is where the serum began. That’s where the history of the serum gets a little murky. We know what happened to ZMapp, of course—three frozen vials of it reached Liberia on Thursday, July 31, thawed over the course of eight to 10 hours, and afterward entered through an IV into Brantly, whose condition recovered within an hour—but not much about the before, or what’s in it... ~ Shirley Li, The WIRE
Posted on: Tue, 05 Aug 2014 01:09:27 +0000
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