Ebola drug from Japan may emerge among key candidates
U.S. government researchers are working hard to get an experimental flu drug from Fujifilm Holdings Corp. quickly approved to treat Ebola, as the death toll rises in West Africa.
Fujifilm’s U.S. partner, MediVector Inc. in Boston is in talks with the Food and Drug Administration to submit an application to use the drug in humans for Ebola, according to Department of Defense spokeswoman Amy Derrick-Frost. If successful, the treatment drug would be one of the first allowed by U.S. regulators to fight the disease in humans.
The Department of Defense has prioritized the completion of a study that tests the drug called favipiravir in Ebola-infected monkeys, Derrick-Frost said. The drug can be fast-tracked through the regulatory review process after the studies are complete, she said. Preliminary monkey data are expected in mid-September, she said.
The advantage of using favipiravir in an Ebola outbreak is that it has already been extensively tested for use as an anti-viral in human trials for influenza. The drug is now in a U.S. final-stage trial for treating influenza.
http://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2014/08/08/national/science-health/ebola-drug-japan-may-emerge-among-key-candidates/#.U-Q5w6PNvMo