The United States announced on Friday a trial of the Ebola drug ZMapp in collaboration with the Liberian government.
Developed by the small San Diego company Mapp Biopharmaceutical, ZMapp has already been given to nine patients with mixed results. But those patients took the drug during an emergency, and experts don't know if it helped survivors recover.
Now, Ebola patients in Liberia and the U.S. will be enrolled in a randomized trial aimed at determining the drug's efficacy. Some subjects will receive only standard care while others will take doses of ZMapp.
The drug, made of three antibodies grown in tobacco leaves, was developed in early 2014. It's entering its first human trial as Liberia's outbreak continues to subside. Mapp president Larry Zeitlin says testing has been highly accelerated compared with typical trials.
"It seems like a long time when there's an outbreak going on," Zeitlin said. "But it's astonishing how quickly this all happened."
National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases Director Anthony Fauci said in a statement, "This clinical trial will help us determine if ZMapp and other treatments are safe and effective for use in the current devastating outbreak in West Africa as well as in future outbreaks.”
