EMA Calls Out to Companies Developing Ebola Treatments

The European Medicines Agency (EMA) is reviewing available information on Ebola treatments currently under development to “facilitate evidence-based decision-making” by health authorities.

At the moment there are no approved medicines to protect from or treat Ebola. Some experimental treatments have reportedly shown encouraging results in the laboratory or in animals, but they have not yet been fully studied in humans.

Over 5,300 cases of Ebola have been reported and more than 2,600 people have died. The current outbreak represents the widest geographical spread of the disease ever reported.

EMA has established a group of European experts with specialized knowledge in vaccines, infectious diseases and clinical trial design to contribute to the global response against Ebola. EMA Executive Director Guido Rasi has asked the Committee for Medicinal Products for Human Use (CHMP) to perform a formal review of the available scientific information; companies are invited to send all available quality, preclinical and clinical data about their treatments under development for review. 

The companies identified so far include:

• Biocryst, a US-based company developing BCX 4430

• Fab’entech, from France, developing Hyperimmune horse sera

• MAPP Biologicals, a US-based company developing ZMAPP

• Sarepta, a US company developing Sarepta AVI-7537

• Toyama Chemicals, Fujifilm Group, based in Japan and MediVector Inc, based in the US, who are jointly developing Favipiravir

• Tekmira, a Canadian company developing TKM-Ebola

Companies that are not included in the list above but are also developing Ebola treatments are encouraged to contact the EMA. The review will focus on medicines under development that are used to treat people infected with the virus. Vaccines to protect people against contracting the disease and blood therapies involving the blood of survivors of Ebola infection are excluded from this review.

EMA.

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