U.S. officials released an order on Thursday asking three advanced laboratories to submit detailed production plans of the Ebola drug ZMapp by Nov. 10. The request was made in order to accelerate the development of multiple vaccines that can be used to treat the deadly disease.
The Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA) sent the order to A&M Health Science Center in Texas, Emergent Biosolutions in Baltimore, and Novartis AG in North Carolina, Reuters reported.
"The U.S. government is working with partners around the world as quickly as possible to advance the development of multiple vaccine and therapeutic candidates for clinical evaluation and future use in preventing or treating Ebola," BARDA Director Robin Robinson said in a statement.
A&M and Emergent are both working in response to the government request while Novartis said that they are still evaluating it. BARDA will choose one laboratory depending on the submitted plans of each candidate to produce the experimental drug ZMapp.
ZMapp was administered to the American aid workers, Dr. Kent Brantly and Nancy Writebol, who both recovered, and a Spanish priest who died. In August, a study showed that the drug treated 100 percent of the subjects that were infected with Ebola. However, the main challenge identified with ZMapp was the insufficient supply of the drug that eventually ran out the same month. Mapp Biopharmaceutical, the company that developed and manufactured the product, stated that it may take a few months before they can produce additional supplies.
Meanwhile, California-based Amgen has partnered with Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and other groups to devise a new way of producing ZMapp. The Gates Foundation donated $150,000 to study for other means to mass produce the drug. Amgen has 12 - 14 staff members studying if the Chinese hamster ovary cells can be used to produce the antibody cocktail, according to Bloomberg.
"The gravity of the impact of the Ebola outbreak and Amgen's expertise in developing monoclonal antibodies provide a unique opportunity to assist in the efforts to manage this growing health-care concern," Davis said in an e-mail.
