US Sends Gilead's COVID-19 Antiviral To Safeguard Health Workers In Uganda Ebola Outbreak
- The U.S. sent Gilead Sciences Inc's (NASDAQ: GILD) remdesivir and Mapp Biopharmaceutical Inc's experimental Ebola antibody drug MBP134 to Uganda as a response to the Ebola outbreak.
- The medicines will help safeguard healthcare workers responding to an outbreak that has infected 60 people and killed 44.
- The Ugandan health ministry confirmed the outbreak on September 20, the largest of the Sudan species since 2000, Reuters reported.
- There are currently no proven vaccines or treatments for the Sudan species of Ebola, one of four known Ebola viruses to cause hemorrhagic fever in humans.
- Uganda health minister Jane Ruth Aceng disclosed the U.S. shipments at a meeting of African region health officials last week in Kampala.
- Earlier this month, Mapp Biopharmaceutical received a $110 million contract from the U.S. government's Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA) for advanced development and potential purchases of MBP134, a combination of monoclonal antibodies.
- A study of MBP134 and remdesivir in non-human primates showed that either drug given individually rescued 20% of animals infected with the Sudan species of Ebola, but when given in combination, 80% of infected animals survived.
- Price Action: GILD shares are down 0.18% at $66.75 during the premarket session on the last check Wednesday.
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