Ebola New drug Zmapp gives hope

Successful tests with Ebola drug let hope

08/31/2014

In the fight against the deadly virus disease Ebola, scientists in Canada have now succeeded in curing infected rhesus monkeys with a new drug. Whether the experimental Ebola remedy ZMapp works reliably in humans, however, still needs to be tested. Two patients have already been successfully treated with the remedy.

Two Ebola patients treated successfully
Researchers in Canada have succeeded in the search for a drug against the deadly infectious disease Ebola managed to cure with the drug ZMapp on Ebola rhesus monkeys. However, it still has to be tested whether the agent also works reliably in humans. According to the current state of knowledge, although two Ebola patients treated with the experimental agent survived the severe infection, a 75-year-old who also received the drug died. According to an earlier report, the drug has so far received at least six people. The condition of the remaining three patients had accordingly improved for the time being.

Effect for five days after infection
In animal experiments, the agent ZMapp had even worked five days after the infection of rhesus monkeys with Ebola, as revealed in the Canadian study. In the British journal „Nature“ the researchers write that the monkeys have already shown strong disease symptoms. Fever is just one of the typical Ebola symptoms. It also causes diarrhea and nausea, in addition, increases the number of white blood cells and the number of platelets decreases. It comes to mucous membrane bleeding. However, after the administration of ZMapp, these symptoms clearly disappeared. How Gary Kobinger of the Winnipeg Health Department and his team write „100 percent of rhesus monkeys“ to be healed.

Imposing success in the treatment
Immunologist Thomas Geisbert of the University of Texas at Galveston writes in a commentary: „The development of ZMapp and its success in treating monkeys at an advanced stage of Ebola infection is impressive.“ A total of 18 animals had been treated in the study. All of the monkeys that received ZMapp at certain intervals after infection were cured, but the three control animals died. Successful attempts with the remedy on monkeys already existed before, but the animals were already treated shortly after the infection.

No evidence of efficacy of the drug
The report from the Canadian study indicates that "ZMapp consists of the most potent antibodies from two experimental anti-Ebola drugs". The scientists have therefore "tested the respective antibodies in different combinations step by step". The ZMapp baptized mixture of three antibodies proved to be "by far the best combination". In his comment, Geisbert points to the US-treated Ebola patients who survived. Since so far about half of Ebola sufferers would have survived even without such treatment, this is no proof of the effect of the drug.

Inventories quickly used up
Another point that dampens hope is that the rhesus monkeys were not infected with the Ebola virus, which is currently raging in West Africa, but with another virus strain. But ZMapp prevented in a further experiment with cell cultures and the proliferation of the current virus type. But it must first prove, if this also for the „free wild“ true. Another problem is that inventories of ZMapp were quickly used up, as it was not clear for a long time whether an unauthorized drug should be given out at all. The company that makes the medicine recently announced that they had begun producing a new lot, but „The process takes time“. This time, enough ZMapp should be manufactured to initiate the approval process for drug approval in humans. (Ad)