WHO Decides on Serum and Vaccine Strategy – 20,000 lives saved as no need for Experimental Drugs to give West Africa a Fighting Chance

A glimmer of hope for those 20,000 is coming that shows that the UN (United Nations) hasn’t given up on Africa!

This after the WHO (World Health Organization) declared what was effectively a death knell for some 20,000 African before the Ebola Virus Outbreak would be brought under control on Thursday August 28^th 2014 as stated in my blog article entitled “WHO confirms Ebola Virus outbreak in DRC different from West Africa - Ebola Virus Brothers from the same Zaire Strain Mother”.

A two-day WHO consultation with 200 health officials, regulators, ethicists, scientists and drug company representatives in Geneva, Switzerland has come to the conclusion that convalescent or recovering patient serum will be used to inoculate and treat the rest of the African population showing symptoms of the Ebola Virus as stated in the article “WHO Ebola Drug Panel: Use Survivor Serum To Treat Ebola Victims”, published  9/05/2014 @ 3:01PM, by David Kroll, Forbes.

Included among those 200 panelists were representatives from the following Drug companies:

1.      BioCryst

2.      Chimerix

3.      Fujifilm

4.      GSK

5.      Mapp Biopharmaceuticals

6.      MediVecto

7.      Merck

8.      Tekmira

Aside from FujiFilm, who I never expected to be in the pharmaceuticals Game altogether, Mapp Biopharmaceuticals stands out. This as there are two American missionary workers for Samaritan’s Purse Dr. Kent Brantly and Nancy Writebol who survived thanks to their experimental three-mouse monoclonal antibody called ZMapp as explained in per my blog article entitled “Jamaica's Ebola Risk - How a ZMapp cured Americans of Ebola as Jamaica can become Guinea Pig to Test an Ebola Cure”.

WHO Decides on Serum and Vaccine Strategy – 20,000 lives potentially saved WHO Decision

WHO Assistant Director General Dr. Marie Paule Kieny, who chaired this 200 strong panel, declared that it was based on prior experience with the 1995 Kikwit Ebola outbreak, where Serum from recovered Ebola Virus patients was used to successfully treat eight persons infected with the Ebola Virus, of which seven survived as stated in “Treatment of Ebola Hemorrhagic Fever with Blood Transfusions from Convalescent Patients”, Oxford Journal of Medicine.

The Serum is the upper portion after the centrifugation of Blood taken from a convalescent or recovering Ebola Virus patient that contain anti-bodies that can help someone suffering from Ebola to recover from the infection.

This may really be out of convenience and past experience rather than sound scientific judgment, as there is literature that describes a phenomenon called antibody-dependent enhancement of viral infection as described in “Antibody-dependent enhancement of Ebola Virus infection”, published July 2003, by J. Vitol, NCBI where a Serum can also cause an adverse reaction and actually weaken the immune system, making the situation worse. Thus albeit this is the same course of action I'd personally recommend if I were a doctor, it's not without risk!

They also decided to test out two experimental Ebola Virus Drug treatments as explained in the article “NIAID/GSK Ebola Vaccines To Enter US, UK Human Safety Trials”, published 8/28/2014 @ 8:55AM by David Kroll, Forbes:

1.      Chimp adenoVirus type 3 vaccine (ChAd3) made by GSK

2.      Recombinant vesicular stomatitis Virus Ebola vaccine (rVSV-EBOV) made by researchers at the Public Health Agency of Canada

Recombinant vesicular stomatitis Virus Ebola vaccine (rVSV-EBOV) has been licensed for testing on 40 volunteers through the Canadian Drug company NewLink Genetics. With volunteers already receiving doses of these experimental drugs in Safety Trials, word as to whether they worked or not will be forthcoming in November 2014.  UK, Mali and The Gambia, who have no traces of the Ebola Virus in their Country but have the advanced infrastructure to deal with Ebola Virus outpatient care.

If successful, the Public Health Agency of Canada can crank out some 600 to 800 doses of their Recombinant vesicular stomatitis Virus Ebola vaccine (rVSV-EBOV) and GSK has committed to making some 10,000 doses of chimp adenoVirus type 3 vaccine (ChAd3). Potentially, these measures combined can save the very same 20,000 persons fated to die by the WHO.

20,000 lives potentially saved via this decision by the WHO.

WHO's Serum and Vaccine Strategy - No need for Experimental Drugs as West Africa given a fighting Chance

The panel also came to conclusion that there was no need to deploy siRNAs and monoclonal antibodies, despite the success of Mapp Biopharmaceuticals experimental three-mouse monoclonal antibody called ZMapp, despite it's early success as per my blog article entitled “Jamaica's Ebola Risk - How a ZMapp cured Americans of Ebola as Jamaica can become Guinea Pig to Test an Ebola Cure”.

Other experimental drugs exist that have undergone human experimentation and have worked, such as  Sarepta’s AVI-7537 as described in “FDA Moves On Tekmira's Ebola Drug While Sarepta's Sits Unused”, published 8/07/2014 @ 8:52PM by David Kroll, Forbes.

In fact the  Sarepta CEO Chris Garabedian says his company has enough AVI-7537 remaining to treat 20-25 Ebola Virus patients but the WHO Panel has declared it's too early for such experimental drugs as noted in the Journal Nature as stated in “Ebola drug trials set to begin amid crisis”, published 02 September 2014 by Declan Butler, Nature.

The use of statins, ACE inhibitors, ARB (angiotensin receptor blockers) and interferon was also discussed but none got the nod from the WHO, who were primarily focused on approved Serum from recovered patients and experimental vaccines. Apparently those outside of the WHO who wish to experiment with these options are free to do so.

Still, WHO's general about-turn means that some 20,000 lives in Africa may be spared and at least the UN is fulfilling its mandate as it relates to the Right to life. Via these expressed strategies, they're giving Africa the same fighting chance as American missionary workers for Samaritan’s Purse Dr. Kent Brantly and Nancy Writebol.