Mundipharma partners with Direct Relief to donate Betadine to support the fight against Ebola in West Africa

Mundipharma, a network of independent associated companies consists of privately owned companies and joint ventures covering the world's pharmaceutical markets, has partnered with Direct Relief to donate supplies of its Betadine range of anti-virals to support the aid organisation’s efforts to contain the current outbreak of Ebola in West Africa. With the partnership, Mundipharma will provide more than two million anti-viral hand washes to the Ebola treatment centres of West Africa.

The Ebola outbreak has killed more than 1,000 people, prompting the World Health Organization (WHO) to declare it a worldwide public health concern. This outbreak has spread rapidly through human-to-human transmission causing wide spread concern globally.

According to the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control, the Ebola virus is frequently found in saliva with evidence stating that close face-to-face contact without adequate personal protective equipment (including eye protection) puts others at moderate risk of acquiring the disease. Those at higher risk of infection include health workers, family members in close contact with infected people and mourners who have direct contact with the bodies of the deceased as part of burial ceremonies.

One of the possible reasons the virus has spread so rapidly in West Africa is due to the insufficient level of healthcare. The best way to reduce the possibility of contracting the disease is to practice proper hygiene.  According to World Health Organisation guidelines, hand hygiene is the most important infection prevention and control measure.

Raman Singh, president, Asia Pacific, Latin America, Middle East, and Africa, commented: “Mundipharma is committed to support the international aid efforts against Ebola.  We hope that our proactive approach will enable Direct Relief to continue to quickly and efficiently provide important preventative measures in limiting the outbreak of this serious and growing health issue.

“The donation of Betadine is wholly consistent with our mission and commitment to improving the health and quality of life of the human race everywhere, even in the most extreme circumstances such as these and emphasises our focus on caring for those most in need.  Betadine® has been used and trusted as an antiseptic for more than 50 years, multiple publications of Betadine and its general virucidal activity exist which is why we believe the Betadine® range can play an important role in the fight against the spread of Ebola.”

GSK & 3 leading institutions form EU consortium

A new European consortium has been formed including GSK and three leading research institutions, University of Oxford, Centre Hospitalier Universitaire Vaudois in Lausanne and the Bernhard-Nocht Institute, to help further advance development of a candidate vaccine against Ebola, which is being co-developed by GSK and the US National Institutes of Health (NIH).

The consortium is backed by funding of €15.1 million from the European Commission Directorate General for Research and Innovation as part of its dedicated Horizon 2020 programme supporting research into treatments and vaccines for Ebola. The consortium also expects to receive an additional €1.4 million from the Swiss government.

The funding is already helping to implement an ongoing trial of an Ebola candidate vaccine being carried out in 120 healthy adult volunteers in Lausanne, Switzerland. If the safety and immunogenicity data from this and other ongoing phase 1 trials are encouraging, the EC funding will enable the consortium to begin larger phase 2 trials in Africa, which could start as early as January 2015.

DENGUE & EBOLA

Dengue fever and Ebola virus disease are two major epidemics that are  threatening millions of people in the world today with no effective remedies available to treat the patients. Dengue fever, the fastest growing tropical illness, currently affects at least 100 million people, according to the World Health Organization, although many doctors believe that because the disease is often misdiagnosed, the actual number of people affected could be three times more than what is estimated. Though most people survive the excruciatingly painful disease, more than 20,000 people do die from the disease every year with children the most affected. Dengue virus can cause flu-like symptoms, as well as bleeding gums, vomiting and severe abdominal pain.

The disease is transmitted by the bite of an Aedes mosquito infected with a dengue virus. The mosquito becomes infected when it bites a person with dengue virus in their blood. It can’t be spread directly from one person to another person. The Ebola virus disease, started in Guinea,  has since spread to Liberia and Sierra Leone in West Africa.

The ongoing epidemic is the most widespread in history and has caused significant mortality, with a reported fatality rate of 71%.  As of November 2014, the WHO and the governments of the affected countries have reported a total of 14,098 suspected cases and 5,489 deaths, though the WHO believes that this substantially understates the magnitude of the outbreak with true figures numbering three times as many cases as have been reported. The assistant director-general of the WHO warned in mid-October that there could be as many as 10,000 new EVD cases per week by December 2014. Almost all of the cases have occurred in the three initial countries.

UM SOM at forefront to develop vaccine for Ebola virus

As the number of lives taken by the Ebola virus in West Africa quickly approaches 1,000, and the US prepares as rapidly as it can, it is clear that little is known in the medical community about the virus. In fact, some experts point out that the number of medical professionals who can properly diagnose and recommend the next steps for treatment is alarmingly small.

Some scientists, however, like Alan Schmaljohn, Ph.D., Professor of Microbiology and Immunology at the University of Maryland School of Medicine (UM SOM), have spent decades studying the Ebola virus and similar viruses identifying key characteristics that have aided in the development of vaccines, antivirals and treatment methods.

As a leader of research and Chief in the Viral pathogenesis and Immunology Branch with the US Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases (USAMRIID), Dr. Schmaljohn was able to help identify three of the key antibodies that are used currently in combination with each other to treat patients infected with Ebola.

Dr. Schmaljohn is now one of the scientific leaders in the UM SOM partnership with Department of Defense contract recipient Paragon Bioservices in the manufacture of an Ebola virus vaccine for initial safety testing in humans.

“Several vaccine candidates for Ebolavirus are proceeding through initial manufacture toward safety testing in human volunteers,” Dr. Schmaljohn said. “Different vaccine candidates are based upon different ‘platforms’ in which selected viral proteins may be made ‘in the test tube’ and purified for injection, or may be added genetically as passengers of a different variety of virus that is weakened. Only human trials will provide the final answers as to which vaccines are best on the basis of many criteria, foremost being safety and efficacy,” he said.