US Sends Gilead's COVID-19 Antiviral To Safeguard Health Workers In Uganda Ebola Outbreak

The U.S. sent Gilead Sciences Inc's 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.
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