Development of anti Ebola drugs and vaccines is imminent

In the past month, the epidemic of Ebola virus is still spreading in West Africa, which has attracted worldwide attention According to the World Health Organization, as of August 6, the number of cases infected with Ebola virus has reached 1711, and the death toll has risen to 932, which undoubtedly makes the epidemic one of the most serious disasters in African history In addition to the continuous attention to the development of the epidemic and the number of infected cases, two Americans infected with Ebola in Africa received the news that their symptoms improved significantly after receiving an experimental drug called "zmapp", which also ignited the impulse of the industry to develop Ebola treatment drugs and vaccines Careful attention of pharmaceutical enterprises It is reported that MAPP biopharmaceutical company in the United States mixed three plant-derived monoclonal antibodies into a "cocktail" drug and named it mb-003, namely "zmapp"; tekmira, a Canadian pharmaceutical company, has also attracted the attention of the industry due to its experimental treatment of Ebola virus, which has progressed to the human trial stage, but in July this year, the drug was banned from clinical trial by FDA In fact, these drugs have only completed animal experiments, and human clinical trials are undoubtedly the "gold standard" to prove the safety and effectiveness of drugs However, the declaration of Helsinki clearly states that: for unproven prevention, diagnosis and treatment methods, or in case of invalid use, if a doctor determines that an unproven or new prevention, diagnosis and treatment method is expected to save lives, restore health and reduce pain, it can be applied without restriction on the premise of obtaining the informed consent of the patient The two Americans who received the treatment just applied for the FDA's compassio state use regulation "special task" To some extent, zmapp's use in patient treatment is equivalent to a non blind, non controlled drug trial with only 1-2 patients, an industry person who has long been concerned about antibody research and development told reporters "The research and development of the drug is very rigorous At present, the clinical research of the drug still needs further observation After all, in the case that the minimum safe dose is not clear, it is not appropriate to jump to conclusions on the efficacy and safety of the test drug." In addition to antibody drugs, vaccines are also considered as an important treatment for viruses In fact, more than 80% of the global vaccine market is occupied by giant enterprises such as GlaxoSmithKline, Sanofi, Pfizer and Novartis However, no pharmaceutical giant has ever been involved in the research and development of Ebola virus vaccine No matter for the basic research of Ebola virus vaccine or the research and development of new vaccine, due to the extremely high technical difficulty and risk of Ebola virus inactivation, the research and development risk is high; in addition, although Ebola is highly lethal but rarely prevalent, it is still a rare disease, and the enterprise's research and development investment is very large, but it is difficult to obtain a relatively ideal income, resulting in low enthusiasm of the enterprise At present, bio pharmaceutical R & D companies such as inovio, vaxart and okairos have made progress in the field of Ebola virus vaccine, but the products are in the pre clinical research stage Prior to that, okairos was acquired by GlaxoSmithKline in May 2013 at a cost of $325 million, realizing the complementarity of expertise and technology in the field of vaccines It is also reported that the leukemic drugs Gleevec and Tasigna of Novartis have stopped the release of virus particles from cells infected with Ebola virus in the culture dish in laboratory research, indicating that the drug may be used for Ebola virus treatment However, when a reporter called song Xinrong, communication manager of Novartis pharmaceutical vaccine business, to learn about the development of Ebola drugs, she said that at present, Novartis has no latest research and development information on Ebola vaccines and related therapeutic drugs Nowadays, the research and development of Ebola antiviral drugs and vaccines is imminent Its impact is not only limited to the pharmaceutical market, but also related to the public health and safety at the national level It is reported that the U.S FDA is also aware of the importance of the research and development of Ebola virus drugs in the near future, and said it will open an urgent new drug application process to speed up the approval process Sun Hongtao, deputy chief physician of cardiovascular surgery of Beijing Fuwai Cardiovascular Hospital, believes that the research of Ebola virus needs the support of the state, the source of research funding needs the official investment, and the research and development of drugs need to think at the strategic level of national security "I believe that the spread of this year's epidemic will greatly promote the research progress of Ebola virus and drugs at home and abroad." At a press conference recently held by the national health and Family Planning Commission, Wang Chen, deputy director of the science and Education Department of the health and Family Planning Commission, also pointed out that China has the ability to develop diagnostic reagents for the detection of Ebola virus in the field of diagnostic reagents; in addition, China has a good ability to prepare multiple antibodies in antibody technology, including having mastered the antibody gene of Ebola virus "The research on Ebola virus and drugs requires high laboratory safety in operation, and the country has made corresponding preparations in this regard If it is necessary to start the antibody production process, it is believed that it will not take too long."