Chinese experimental drug sent out to Ebola-hit Africa
Print Edition
A BEIJING drugmaker has sent an experimental Ebola drug to Africa for use by Chinese aid workers and is planning clinical trials there to combat the disease, according to the firm’s chief operating officer.
Sihuan Pharmaceutical Holdings Group Ltd has supplied several thousand doses of its drug JK-05 to the region, Jia Zhongxin said, and more doses could be sent if needed.
Governments and drugmakers around the world have been racing to find a treatment for the outbreak, which has spread as far as the United States and Europe.
“Aid workers have already taken the drug with them, and if a case breaks out (amongst the aid workers), then the drug may be used,” added Huo Caixia, Sihuan’s assistant general manager.
Sihuan, part-owned by US investment bank Morgan Stanley, is hoping to get the drug fast-tracked for civilian use in China. It has signed an agreement with the Academy of Military Medical Sciences, a research unit, to seek approval for its use in China and to push it to market.
The drug, approved in China for emergency military use only, was initially developed by AMMS.
Sihuan is one of China’s largest prescription drugmakers. The company is preparing for clinical trials in Africa and could test the drug on African Ebola patients, Huo said. No Chinese nationals have so far been infected.
“Right now, we’re formulating a plan for clinical trials, and don’t rule out the possibility of using African patients,” she said, adding that any outbreak of Ebola in Asia or China would speed up the drug’s timetable to market.
There are about a million Chinese nationals living in Africa, with some 10,000 in the countries most affected by Ebola — Sierra Leone, Guinea and Liberia.
JK-05 has not been used on humans, though Sihuan says it has proved effective in mice.
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