Sarepta drug protects lab monkeys from EbolaReuters
By Sharon Begley 22 minutes ago
NEW YORK (Reuters) - An experimental Ebola drug from Sarepta Therapeutics Inc protected 75 percent of lab monkeys injected with the virus, scientists from the company and the U.S. Army reported on Tuesday.
The drug, called AVI-7537, joins ZMapp from Mapp Biopharmaceutical and a compound from Tekmira Pharmaceuticals Corp as the agents shown to cure non-human primates given otherwise-lethal injections of Ebola virus.
The ZMapp and Tekmira drugs protected 100 percent of lab monkeys in studies, giving them a possible edge. But, unlike those drugs, Sarepta's drug has been formally tested in healthy human volunteers at high doses and caused no serious side effects.
While other experimental agents are in extremely limited supply or difficult to produce, there is a straightforward manufacturing system for Sarepta's drug, analyst Steve Brozak, president of WBB Securities, said in an interview.
AVI-7537 is an antisense molecule, essentially a mirror image of a molecule that carries instructions from Ebola's genes to its protein-making machinery. The drug binds to the messenger, shutting down the virus's ability to reproduce.
In previous monkey studies, a combination of antisense molecules proved effective. The new research, published in the journal mBio, found that a single one, targeting a messenger for a protein called VP24, was sufficient.
In contrast to the 75 percent of Ebola-infected monkeys that survived after receiving AVI-7537 intravenously, all those receiving a placebo died.
Demonstrating that a single agent can protect non-human primates is important, said Travis Warren of the U.S. Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases, who led the study. It is simpler to manufacture and get regulatory approval for one compound than a combination, Warren said.
Last November, Cambridge, Massachusetts-based Sarepta published research showing that AVI-7537 and another antisense molecule were safe and well-tolerated in 30 of 30 healthy human volunteers. A few experienced mild reactions such as headaches.
Sarepta's $300 million contract with the U.S. Department of Defense to develop drugs against Ebola and the related Marburg virus was terminated in 2012 due to government funding cuts. The current study was completed just before then, but not published until the current Ebola outbreak increased interest in the drug, Warren said.
Chief Executive Officer Chris Garabedian said the company needs at least two years to scale up the manufacturing process for Ebola drugs.
(Reporting by Sharon Begley; Editing by Lisa Shumaker)
http://news.yahoo.com/sarepta-drug-protects-lab-monkeys-ebola-143146851--finance.html
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