Tokyo stands ready to offer an experimental drug developed by a Japanese company to help stem the global tide of the deadly Ebola virus, the top government spokesman said yesterday.
“Our country is prepared to provide the yet-to-be approved drug in cooperation with the manufacturer, if the WHO requests,” Japanese Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga said.
The WHO has been discussing the use of unapproved drugs as a way of getting a handle on an outbreak in Africa that has already cost more than 1,400 lives, with thousands more people thought to be infected.
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There is no available cure or vaccine for Ebola and the WHO has declared the latest outbreak a global public health emergency.
Several drugs are under development.
The use of an experimental drug called ZMapp on two US citizens and a Spanish priest infected with the virus while working in Africa has opened up an intense ethical debate.
The drug, which is in very short supply, has reportedly shown promising results in the two Americans, although the priest died.
The US company that makes the treatment, Mapp Biopharmaceutical, said this month that it had sent all its available supplies to west Africa. The WHO earlier said a panel of medical experts had determined it is “ethical” to provide experimental treatments.
“Even before the WHO reaches a conclusion, we are ready to respond to individual requests [from medical workers] under certain conditions, if it is an urgent case,” Suga said yesterday.
The medication Suga was referring to is Avigan, a drug in tablet form that was approved as an anti-influenza drug in Japan in March and is currently in clinical tests in the US.
The drug’s developer, Fujifilm Holdings, said that it had received inquiries from abroad, but declined to say how many and from which countries.
Fujifilm Holdings, which has diversified into healthcare fields, has “no problem” over the amount of stockpiles, spokesman Takao Aoki said.
“We have sufficient supplies for more than 20,000 people,” he said.
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