Monrovia, August 12 (QNA) – Liberia will receive an untested experimental drug, Zmapp, to treat people infected with Ebola, the Liberian government says.
The move came after a request to the US from Liberian President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, the government said. The news came as medical ethics specialists met in Geneva to explore the use of such new treatments, the BBC reported.
The World Health Organization, which is hosting the meeting, says some 1,013 have died from Ebola in West Africa.
US government officials said their role had been to put Liberian officials in contact with Zmapp maker Mapp Biopharmaceutical.
The drug was “provided at no cost in all cases,” the company added.
Zmapp has been used in the US on two aid workers who have shown signs of improvement, and a Roman Catholic priest, infected with Ebola in Liberia, who is currently being treated in a hospital in Madrid.
However, the drug has only been tested on monkeys and has not yet been evaluated for safety in humans.
The World Health Organization (WHO) will announce the outcome of its emergency meeting on the role of experimental drugs on Tuesday.(QNA)
OM
QNA 1033 GMT 2014/08/12
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