The U.S. FDA has told pharmaceutical company Tekmira that it has cleared an experimental Ebola drug for potential use in humans infected with the disease.
Tekmira made that announcement to investors after stock markets closed on Thursday, and by Friday morning its sales were booming. Stock in the company was up almost 25 percent early on Friday after the announcement.
This comes in light of the U.N.'s announcement Friday morning that the Ebola outbreak in West Africa had become an international health emergency that has the potential to affect any nation if immediate action is not taken.
As the Ebola virus spreads in West Africa, investors have been buying stock in potential drugs to treat the virus. There is no completely developed Ebola drug yet, but Tekmira's drug is one of three worldwide that has shown promising results in monkeys. Tekmira's drug has not been tested in humans yet.
The U.S. FDA told the Canadian-based Tekmira that it had eased its regulations to allow the Ebola drug for use in humans. Tekmira made the announcement to investors after the markets had closed on Thursday. Now, stocks in the company are soaring as investors rush to own stock in what may soon be a prized commodity - a potential treatment for Ebola.
The Ebola outbreak in West Africa has currently spread to Guinea, Liberia, Nigeria, and Sierra Leone. The virus has killed an estimated 961 people so far, and has infected roughly 1,779 people, according to the World Health Organization.
"The possible consequences of further international spread are particularly serious in view of the virulence of the virus, the intensive community and health facility transmission patterns, and the weak health systems in the currently affected and most at-risk countries," WHO said on Friday, August 8, in a meeting where it declared the outbreak an international health emergency.
Tekmira stock rose by 24.9 percent early Friday morning, jumping to C$19.49 on the Toronto Stock Exchange. Shares in the company have risen about 88 percent during the past three weeks.
The U.N. has scheduled a meeting next week with medical ethicists to discuss how experimental Ebola drugs may be ethically tested in humans as the virus's outbreak spreads.
"We are in an unusual situation in this outbreak. We have a disease with a high fatality rate without any proven treatment or vaccine," says Dr Marie-Paule Kieny, Assistant Director-General at the World Health Organization. "We need to ask the medical ethicists to give us guidance on what the responsible thing to do is."
