Ebola drug for Liberia
August 12, 2014
US President Barack Obama and the Food and Drug Administration approved the request Monday to send the experimental drugs to Liberia, the West African nation's government said in a statement.
Mapp Biopharmaceutical Inc, which makes the drug ZMapp, released a statement on their website that said, "In responding to the request received this weekend from a West African nation, the available supply of ZMapp is exhausted."
"Any decision to use ZMapp must be made by the patients' medical team," it said, adding that the drug was "provided at no cost in all cases."
It remains unclear, however, how much of the treatment would be sent.
So far, two Americans and a Spaniard have received the drug. The two American missionary workers who fell ill with Ebola while working in Liberia's capital, Monrovia last month, were given the treatment after returning to the US. A Spanish priest who was sickened with the virus has also been given a dose and returned to Spain.
The death toll from the worst ever outbreak of Ebola has reached 1,013, the World Health Organization said on Monday. Since March, the outbreak has hit Sierra Leone, Liberia, Guinea and Nigeria.
The highly contagious virus is a form of hemorrhagic fever that can cause severe fever, unstoppable bleeding and organ failure.
hc/lw (Reuters, AFP, AP)