It was a perfect scenario for the drug company - an outbreak of the deadly Ebola with two American medical professionals facing near certain death. They were highly motivated to agree to be live guinea pigs AND they certainly understood the risks and could give ‘informed consent’. With this scenario, there was no issue of African nations accusing them of experimenting on their people with all the issues (like race, uneducated, poor, etc.) that could be raised. I suspect that’s why there will be a reluctance to use it in Africa unless it is tested and approved. Considering the cost to make the serum & that it’s not approved for use in humans, there is no reason for it to be manufactured in mass quantities at this time ... which is also a convenient excuse to supply Africa with it in its current state (unapproved, barely tested).
oops - should be: which is also a convenient excuse NOT to supply Africa with it in its current state (unapproved, barely tested).
c 24, particularly this part:
“The advantage of using Favipiravir in an Ebola outbreak is that it has already been extensively tested for use as an antiviral in human trials for influenza. The drug is now in a U.S. final-stage trial for treating influenza.
In addition, the drug is a pill, unlike the cocktail of injected antibodies administered to two Americans who contracted Ebola. This means it may be easier to use in rural locations with limited medical infrastructure.
“Currently, we are holding preparatory talks to start clinical trials (in consideration of possible use of the drug to fight Ebola) through our American partner MediVector,” Chisato Yoshizawa, a manager at Fujifilm Holdings’ communications division, said Friday.
Yoshizawa said that on March 24 the drug in its tablet-format was approved by the Health, Labor and Welfare Ministry for sale in Japan as a flu drug.”