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Post by selluwud on Aug 4, 2014 17:08:49 GMT
I heard on the radio during lunch that an unapproved vaccine had been administered to the American who had contracted Ebola in Africa. The NIH had funded much of the research, but it was a private firm that had made the medicine. I thought I might be on to a hot investment hunch and did a little research and found that the serum was developed by a privately held company called Mapp Biopharmaceutical www.mappbio.com/ . Then I saw this article about how investors were jumping on a publicly traded company who they mistakenly though had provided the vaccine. money.cnn.com/2014/08/04/investing/ebola-drug-tekmira/index.html?source=yahoo_quote . I hope the medicine works and has no side effects as it has never been administered to a human before.
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Post by JHam on Aug 6, 2014 10:18:42 GMT
I heard on the radio during lunch that an unapproved vaccine had been administered to the American who had contracted Ebola in Africa. The NIH had funded much of the research, but it was a private firm that had made the medicine. I thought I might be on to a hot investment hunch and did a little research and found that the serum was developed by a privately held company called Mapp Biopharmaceutical www.mappbio.com/ . Then I saw this article about how investors were jumping on a publicly traded company who they mistakenly though had provided the vaccine. money.cnn.com/2014/08/04/investing/ebola-drug-tekmira/index.html?source=yahoo_quote . I hope the medicine works and has no side effects as it has never been administered to a human before. I was looking into this as well. If the treatment (Zmapp) works, which it seems to be showing that it does, then that would be great for people infected with Ebola. Trying to capitalize on Zmapp's potential success from an investment standpoint could prove challenging: www.mappbio.com/zmapinfo.pdf"ZMappTM is the result of a collaboration between Mapp Biopharmaceutical, Inc. and LeafBio (San Diego, CA), Defyrus Inc. (Toronto, Canada), the U.S. government and the Public Health Agency of Canada (PHAC). ZMappTM is composed of three “humanized” monoclonal antibodies manufactured in plants, specifically Nicotiana. It is an optimized cocktail combining the best components of MB-003 (Mapp) and ZMAb (Defyrus/PHAC). ZMappTM was first identified as a drug candidate in January 2014 and has not yet been evaluated for safety in humans. As such, very little of the drug is currently available. Any decision to use an experimental drug in a patient would be a decision made by the treating physician under the regulatory guidelines of the FDA. Mapp and its partners are cooperating with appropriate government agencies to increase production as quickly as possible."None of these companies seem to be publicly traded. Here are two more articles though, one from the BBC and one from Forbes: www.bbc.com/news/health-28663217www.forbes.com/sites/davidkroll/2014/08/05/ebola-secret-serum-small-biopharma-the-army-and-big-tobacco/One thing I can see coming out of all of this is easier access for potential treatments via compassionate use. Ebola is a special case since it is likely death days after the incubation period. However, Zmapp has not even started a Phase I trial. Hopefully this mark the beginning of the FDA easing restrictions on treatments that have proven safety in Phase I/II for indications where early treatment is vital.
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