The current Ebola outbreak has killed about 55 percent of its victims, although the fatality rate has been around 90 percent during other outbreaks.
Laboratory technicians of the company Icon Genetics GmbH, a German biopharma firm, prepare proteins from tobacco plants (Nicotiana benthamiana) for weighing in a laboratory in Halle, Germany, Aug. 14. Icon Genetics is helping in the fight against the deadly Ebola virus, by creating antibodies needed for the experimental drug known as ZMapp.culled
The latest experimental Ebola treatment could come from Fujifilm. The Japanese camera company based in Tokyo ventured into the pharmaceutical industry five years ago, acquiring a company with an experimental flu vaccine that may soon be used to help patients fight the deadly Ebola virus disease.
With at least 1,427 people having died in Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone during the most recent Ebola outbreak, health workers are scrambling to find possible treatments. The top candidate was ZMapp, made by Mapp Biopharmaceutical Inc., headquartered in San Diego.
ZMapp has been credited with helping two American aid workers who contracted the virus, as Reuters noted. However, its efficacy also has been questioned after a Liberian doctor died despite receiving the same treatment, as BBC News pointed out. In any case, the company recently warned that its available supply of ZMapp was exhausted, leaving authorities to looking elsewhere for another option.
