Ebola Drug Made From Tobacco Plant Saves U.S. Aid Workers

An ambulance arrives with U.S. doctor Kent Brantly, right, at
Emory University Hospital, in Atlanta, on Saturday, Aug. 2,
2014. Brantly was flown from Liberia to Atlanta on Aug. 2, and
is receiving treatment for Ebola at Emory University Hospital.
A tiny San Diego-based company provided an experimental Ebola
treatment for two Americans infected with the deadly virus in
Liberia. The biotechnology drug, produced with tobacco plants,
appears to be working.
In an unusual twist of expedited drug access, Mapp
Biopharmaceutical Inc. , which has nine employees, released its
experimental ZMapp drug, until now only tested on infected
animals, for the two health workers. Kentucky BioProcessing LLC,
a subsidiary of tobacco giant Reynolds American Inc. (RAI) ,
manufactures the treatment for Mapp from tobacco plants.
The first patient, Kent Brantly, a doctor, was flown from Liberia to
Atlanta on Aug. 2, and is receiving treatment at Emory University
Hospital. Nancy Writebol, an aid worker, is scheduled to arrive in
Atlanta today and will be treated at the same hospital, according
to the charity group she works with. Both are improving, according
to relatives and supporters.
Each patient received at least one dose of ZMapp in Liberia before
coming to the U.S., according to Anthony Fauci , director of the
National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases.