SHANGHAI: A Chinese drug maker has sent an experimental Ebola drug to Africa for use by Chinese aid workers in clinical trials to combat the disease.
Sihuan Pharmaceutical Holdings Group Ltd has supplied several thousand doses of its drug JK-05 to the region, Chief Operating Officer Jia Zhongxin said.
An Ebola outbreak in West Africa has killed more than 4,000 people. Governments and drug makers around the world have been racing to find a treatment for the outbreak, which has spread as far as the United States and Europe. US President Barack Obama has pledged to get more “aggressive” against the disease.
JK-05 has not been used on humans, although Sihuan says it has proven effective in tests on mice.
Its development lags some way behind US-developed ZMapp and TKM-Ebola, which have been tested on monkeys and used on Ebola patients. However, analysts said the drug’s similarities to Japanese influenza drug Favipiravir is an encouraging sign.
Japanese firm Fujifilm Holdings Corp last week said the French and Guinean governments were considering clinical trials of Favipiravir, developed by group firm Toyama Chemical Co, to treat patients with Ebola.
Sihuan’s Hong Kong-listed shares were up 4.5 percent at 0230 far outpacing the wider Hang Seng Index which was down 0.7 percent. The firm’s shares are up over 80 percent this year compared with the benchmark index which is broadly flat. Reuters
