Secret serum likely saved Ebola patients

[hack89]

Source: CNN

CNN) -- Three top secret, experimental vials stored at subzero temperatures were flown into Liberia last week in a last-ditch effort to save two American missionary workers who had contracted Ebola, according to a source familiar with details of the treatment.

Brantly began to deteriorate and developed labored breathing. He told his doctors, "I am going to die," according to a source with firsthand knowledge of the situation.

Knowing his dose was still frozen, Brantly asked if he could have Writebol's now-thawed medication. It was brought to his room and administered through an IV. Within an hour of receiving the medication, Brantly's condition was nearly reversed. His breathing improved; the rash over his trunk faded away. One of his doctors described the events as "miraculous."

By the next morning, Brantly was able to take a shower on his own before getting on a specially designed Gulfstream air ambulance jet to be evacuated to the United States.

Read more: http://www.cnn.com/2014/08/04/health/experimental-ebola-serum/index.html?hpt=hp_t1

[msanthrope]

1. Excellent news all around. nt

[FreakinDJ]

2. Yes but us minions won't be administered that 'Top secret drug'

[msanthrope]

4. You mean, once the Ebola comes and gets you, and the dead roam the streets?

Tell me, FreakinDJ, what is your risk of contracting Ebola?

Now that there's a serum, there will be trials. And, hopefully, a treatment and/or vaccine.

[FreakinDJ]

6. At $125,000.00 per dose you and me won't get it

Profits before People and all ....

Besides - just whose Healthcare plan pays for "Experimental Procedures" - I think that one has been beat to death pretty well around here

[msanthrope]

7. You have no idea what the cost of the finished drug will be--it hasn't even gone through

clinical trials.

This was a compassionate use exception to the FDA regs.

[FreakinDJ]

8. You have no idea of the level of GREED of our Healthcare system

[msanthrope]

11. Indeed...good thing Africa, Japan, Canada, and Russia are all developing sera. nt

[abovesobelow]

40. Most likely, and its always shared with those who need it most last..

I mean sold.............hahahaha shared, what a fucking joke.

[LisaL]

9. Oh I have no doubt it's going to be very pricey.

Considering it apparently involves antibody production.

[msanthrope]

13. Look--if you or any other American contracts Ebola, do you really think you are going to be taking a

prescription to a pharmacy, and then calling your insurance company to see if it is on their formulary? Is that the scenario you are envisioning?

[LynneSin]

24. Thank you - you said it better than me

Ebola has been in the United States but a non-toxic version found in Reston Virginia that never affected any human beings. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reston_virus)

Ebola is not your run-of-the-mill-everyday disease. It's one of those rare exotic vaccines that only shows up in distant lands. Fortuanately other countries are not under any obligation to buy their vaccines from the United States and other countries are researching treatment for Ebola.

[msanthrope]

26. This is all gonna culminate in a fevered OP about how Obama's ACA doesn't cover Ebola.

You wait.

[FSogol]

52. I'm sure it will be over-the-counter by then.

[onecent]

37. The cost of the vaccination (if you would have the

nerve to take it) will be so high. It won't be for the have nots, that WE CAN
COUNT ON!!!!!!!!!

[FarPoint]

10. I think the serum is derived from antigens produced by previous survivor victims.

I imagine the is only a scant amount since mortality from the virus is like 99%.

[msanthrope]

12. In part....but right now, there's development of sera on three continents. nt

[muriel_volestrangler]

16. From mice, not humans

The medicine is a three-mouse monoclonal antibody, meaning that mice were exposed to fragments of the Ebola virus and then the antibodies generated within the mice's blood were harvested to create the medicine.

[Orsino]

5. Not just yet.

http://www.theonion.com/articles/experts-ebola-vaccine-at-least-50-white-people-awa,36580/

[joshcryer]

58. ebola was considered untreatable.

I don't give a shit how much it costs, it will further research.

[LanternWaste]

61. I think NGO missionaries contracting diseases in foreign parts are the very definition of "us minion

I think NGO missionaries contracting diseases in foreign parts are the very definition of "us minions..."

[lsewpershad]

39. Excellent news indeed

Hopefully it will now become available for the poor in Africa.

[msanthrope]

45. I hope there's enough serum. Apparently there were three vials, all three used. nt

[Chan790]

47. The process, not the product, was the important part of production.

If they can make three vials now that they know how to make it...they can make 30 or 300 or 3000000. You just need a large enough number of mice. The process isn't going to change.

[msanthrope]

51. Then I hope they can get informed consent and plenty of serum for the rest of the victims. nt

[ChairmanAgnostic]

3. better living through chemistry.

I recall when I saw that saying on old chemical company documents. Pity certain folks

a. become anti-vaccers
b. ignore science's benefits, while over-stressing its costs or side effects
c. think science is too hard, so faith has to be right.

This is wonderful news. But I am very curious about the mechanism. Ebola does two contradictory things to a body. It forces the body to bleed internally, and through various organs, at the same time, it begins uncontrolled clotting, at the same time.
That is why is has been difficult, if not impossible, to treat.

[Orrex]

14. I'm guessing that the serum is homeopathic water.

Famed for its amazing curative powers.

[seveneyes]

15. Why keep it secret?

Pay to play?

[muriel_volestrangler]

17. 'secret' seems a strange word for CNN to use - 'highly experimental' seems to be the meaning

It hadn't been tested on any humans before this, as far as I can tell.

[LynneSin]

25. Seriously how do you test a vaccine for something as deadly as Ebola

[muriel_volestrangler]

27. On animals that suffer from the virus as well

eg monkeys. If that goes OK, you can test it on healthy volunteers to see if it has side effects. Then you offer it to people with the disease as an experimental drug; because the disease is so deadly, and perhaps because these 2, both being professionals, can give truly informed consent, they seem to have gone straight to this stage.

[jeff47]

32. After proving it does not have common dangerous side effects

you take it to where an outbreak is currently running and start injecting people. Then you see if any of them catch the disease.

[rexcat]

65. You are required to use animal models...

for efficacy testing when dealing with deadly pathogens such as Ebola, anthrax, etc.

I worked on a monoclonal antibody to the anthrax toxins and it was tested in animals for efficacy and then we tested it in humans for safety. The product never made it to market but I am guessing that the antibodies were used in a compassionate use protocol for the postal and government workers who were exposed to the anthrax that was mailed to government offices. I say that because inhaled anthrax spores can kill within 24-26 hours post-inhalation and most if not all of the workers who were exposed did not die.

[AngryDem001]

49. It's CNN.

They LIVE to get people amped up and scared.

[msanthrope]

18. It hasn't gone through clinical trials. nt

[hack89]

19. All industries have secrets

why tell your competitors what you are doing before you have to? It just gives them more opportunities to thwart your plans.

[Dreamer Tatum]

38. Because if it was "widely known," expectations would grow immediately

demand for it would skyrocket, and let's just suppose it doesn't work
or has unintended effects. Then the company that's evil for not making
it available in vending machines becomes evil for not testing it completely.

[Xithras]

43. Bingo. You'd have actual riots in the streets.

When you have a potential cure that MIGHT save lives, it's generally a good idea to keep it quiet until you know whether or not it actually works. People can get a bit testy when their friends and family members are dying, and the "cure" is unavailable to them.

Now that they know it works, they can look at making it available to a wider pool of victims.

[Marrah_G]

42. They may want to make sure it works

[seveneyes]

44. Understood

But if someone is facing the torture of dying from Ebola, let them in on the secret.

[L0oniX]

20. "Secret serum"? First thing that brings into my mind is bio warfare.

This shit makes all the other bio germ chemical fears look pale. I mean it's anywhere from 60 to 90% death rate. While the fears have been over sarin, anthrax and radioactive dirty bomb attacks the threat of mass ebola deaths comes into play. Who's the terrorist now? The people that have the secret serum?

[hack89]

22. It is not really secret

considering the government had previously handed out a press release saying that they were giving additional funding to the company that made the vaccine.

I think the word secret is the work of an overly imaginative writer. Experimental is the proper term to use.

And if it was some secret weapon, why give the secret away to save two lives?

[DeSwiss]

35. Well, the CDC did apply for a patent in 2009....

...on the hEbola strain.



CDC Patents ''novel species of human Ebola (hEbola) virus''

Human ebola virus species and compositions and methods thereof CA 2741523 A1

Abstract

Compositions and methods including and related to the Ebola Bundibugyo virus (EboBun) are provided.

Compositions are provided that are operable as immunogens to elicit and immune response or protection from EboBun challenge in a subject such as a primate. Inventive methods are directed to detection and treatment of EboBun infection.
Claims(30)

MORE

[Chan790]

48. Ebola isn't an ideal bio-war vector.

The incubation period of 7-28 days would allow for wide spread in use as a bio-weapon. (That only seems good, it's really not...perhaps for Al Qaeda that doesn't care who they kill, otherwise no.) It's hard to contain a weapon like that. At the same time, it's of limited utility because of the long incubation...if you used it, you'd be looking at nearly a month before it had any significant effect as a weapon. A month is a lifetime is a war-zone.

It's a worse choice for both the containment reason and the efficacy reason than an agent like Anthrax or Botulism...both kill with the same overwhelming margin and do it fast meaning it can be contained and can be used over short terms.

[bigworld]

21. And this is why we pay taxes, right-wingers.

Capitalism isn't going to be developing a serum for ebola until it makes some profit. Government saves lives, and here's the proof.

[calimary]

23. Good point.

VERY good point.

[WinkyDink]

28. "The drug was developed by the biotech firm Mapp Biopharmaceutical Inc."

[Gore1FL]

30. Funded by USAMRIID, PHAC (DTRA)

http://www.mappbio.com/productdevelopment.html

[WinkyDink]

31. It is still a capitalist company.

[jeff47]

33. And they're only developing it because government paid them to do so. (nt)

[Gore1FL]

46. The funding, however, was the point. n/t

[joshcryer]

57. That's how the US operates.

Taxpayers fund grant giving agencies in the US. Grant giving agencies then look at the most important things to give grants to and then those funds are disbursed.

[aint_no_life_nowhere]

55. $28 million grant from the NIH

http://www.scripps.edu/news/press/2014/20140320ollmannsaphire.html

"...Biopharmaceutical companies on the grant include Mapp Biopharmaceutical (Larry Zeitlin), Zalgen labs (Luis Branco) and Cangene (Cory Nykiforuk)...."

The U.S. Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases (USAMRIID) is also on the grant, apparently passing some of its grant money on to Mapp Biopharmaceutical.

[alcibiades_mystery]

56. Even when it is an obvious government grant project, the free marketeers pretend it wasn't

It's like dealing with the most blinkered Stalinists, talking to these free market kooks.

[WinkyDink]

59. FTR, I am decidedly not a "Free Marketer." But if you think there are no profits to be sought here,

well, there's an Ebola vaccine I'll sell you (right after the HIV one).

[wheniwasincongress]

29. Thank god for those homeopathers!

[hamsterjill]

34. I'm happy these people are being helped.

I don't see a downside to having a serum that works. Yes, I do understand that greed will play a major role in the manufacture of the medication, etc.

But I'm happy to hear that these two people are improving, AND the more survivors, the more antibodies to choose from to study and perhaps produce more serum. I'll leave it at that at this point in time. I'm not ready to panic over the potential for epidemic, etc. While I certainly understand that this is a serious issue, I choose to simply trust the people at Emory to understand that and make sure no one else becomes ill.

What other choice is there?

[McCamy Taylor]

36. All the research is government funded so we better not see a private company making $$$ from a drug

that US taxpayers created. However, given the way that our corporate welfare system works, I expect to see the CDC hand over any finished product to Pfizer and then watch US taxpayesr pay a second time---first to finance the creation of the medication and then to get the actual medication that we paid to create. It is the American way.

[VA_Jill]

41. It's not "secret"

It's EXPERIMENTAL. It hasn't gone through clinical trials. Stop sensationalizing, media idiots.

[harun]

60. "Secret" = ooohhh aaahhh! = $$$

[itsrobert]

50. Could be a Placebo effect

possible

[Ilsa]

53. Placebos don't generally bring patients back

from the brink of death.

[itsrobert]

54. generally no

but there are outliers. The mind can do some spectacular things.

[Mosby]

62. It comes from GMO tobacco

how funny is that..

[B2G]

63. Bad week to stop smoking? nt

[B2G]

64. If this stuff actually works, it's very good news

A plant based serum could be produced very rapidly and fairly inexpensively.