By Brett Daniel Shehadey
Special Contributor for In Homeland Security
In early August an expert panel from the World Health Organization said, “in the particular circumstances of this outbreak [in West Africa], and provided certain conditions are met, it is ethical to offer such unproven interventions as potential treatments or for prevention of infection.”
U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Sylvia Mathews Burwell stated on Capitol Hill that she was not taking a “backseat” on the Ebola cases in America. She also stated that she expects more Ebola cases in the U.S. and that the American health system was prepared to handle them. Secretary Burwell is the nation’s top health official, not CDC Director Thomas R. Frieden, as many believe.
It seems the ultimate way to protect Americans and Africans is a coordinated efforts that develops the right vaccine and prepares for any and all viral contingencies on American soil. Currently, this falls under several health authorities across many departments. HHS’s Office of the Assistant Secretary for Preparedness and Response (ASPR) in coordination with the U.S. Department of Defense’s Defense Threat Reduction Agency (DTRA) and the National Institute of Health (NIH) as well as others have all been instrumental in this fight.
As the Ebola Epidemic begins to spread out from Africa, researchers in both public and private sectors continue to develop a cure. Already, the potential success of the drug ZMapp, developed by Mapp Biopharmaceutical and LeafBio remains unavailable until as late as January 2015.
ZMapp works by genetically modifying tobacco plants to produce the targeted monoclonal anti-bodies. The process acts to separate the body from the virus but as one can imagine, it takes a season and many subsequent steps to manufacture.
On September 2, HHS contracted with Mapp Biopharmaceutical. According to HHS, “ASPR’s Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA) will provide funding as well as access to subject matter expertise and technical support for manufacturing, regulatory, and nonclinical activities through a $24.9 million, 18-month contract with Mapp Biopharmaceutical Inc., of San Diego, California. ASPR can extend the contract up to a total of $42.3 million.”
U.S. Emergency labs were standing by awaiting the order since August. Established by the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), these Centers for Innovation in Advanced Development and Manufacturing (ADM), are designed to respond in mass production in the case of an outbreak scenario or in response to domestic pandemics. But assembly-lines do not speed up a promising treatments like ZMapp or untested experimental vaccines or drugs before their time is due. The delay here is not so much politics and infrastructure as it is the expediency of emergency research and availability.
Experimental drugs do not always work either. They did not work for Liberian national Thomas Duncan, for example, who died from Ebola in a Texas hospital. The results of ZMapp have been extremely encouraging and effective in tests on animals. The rushed human trials reportedly saved five out of seven infected. Good but treatments could get better to with just a little patience and caution.
American cameraman Ashoka Mukpo was recently flown back to the states for treatment. He is receiving another experimental antiviral drug called brincidofovir, developed by Chimerix. Brincidofovir was given to Thomas Duncan, as ZMapp was unavailable.
Canadian company, Tekmira Pharmaceutical’s is testing TKM-Ebola, which is an RNAi therapeutic drug against Ebola working with the Department of Defense. There are many others: Crucell biopharmaceutical company, Profectus Biosciences, Thomas Jefferson University are some that are working with the National Health Institute to develop vaccines for the Ebola virus.
The FDA has approved of Pentagon testing of VSVΔG-ZEBOV (or BPSC1001) on human subjects to combat Ebola. This vaccine was developed by military’s Defense Threat Reduction Agency (DTRA) working with Newlink Genetics Corp. The vaccine VSVΔG-ZEBOV has already undergone animal testing and is scheduled for human testing at the Clinical Trials Center at Walter Reed Army Institute of Research in Silver Spring, Maryland. The caution here is that vaccines must undergo safety trials in healthy individuals and follow strict guidelines and protocols. Moreover, the vaccine has traces of Ebola and the vesicular stomatitis virus.
Safety testing is being done by National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases and GlaxoSmithKline for the NIAID/GSK Ebola vaccine.
As the U.S. and other advanced states look for ways to boost research and production for a cure, there are many unconventional ideas out there that should crowdsourced by HHS and other government health agencies. One such idea was presented by Inovio Pharmaceuticals CEO and President Joseph Kim, who told CNBC, “I joke around that you can turn any beer manufacturer’s manufacturing production facility into a temporary emergency factory for our vaccines because we use the same fermentation technology as the beer brewing.”
As of now there still remains no known cure for Ebola. As new and legitimate efforts for experimental drugs are developed, the scammers are also on the field, playing on fears and hopes for quick profits with no results. These abominable outfits’ claims are no better than snake oil. Beware of fraudulent Ebola prevention kits, supplements and drugs that promise a cure Ebola—none are FDA approved. Consult your doctor and health officials.
While America and other states must be cautious about any ‘miracle cures,’ they must also race to develop them and stay hopeful and generous in giving aid here and abroad.
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