WHO approves use of experimental medication to fight Ebola.

ABC World News (8/12, story 6, 1:30, Schiavocampo) reported on “major developments in the Ebola outbreak,” noting that fatalities are now over 1,000 and ABC (Schiavocampo) added that the World Health Organization “approved the use of Z-Mapp to combat Ebola,” though it “can take weeks to produce” and “the available supply has been exhausted.”

        The New York Times (8/12, Cumming-Bruce, Cowell, Subscription Publication) reports that the WHO “endorsed the use of untested drugs”

        The Washington Post (8/12, Phillip, Bernstein) reports that the WHO “said the use of unproven, experimental treatments and vaccines is ethical given the magnitude of the crisis.” Given Mapp’s statement that the supply is “exhausted”, Marie-Paule Kieny, assistant WHO director general, “said she hopes that efforts to produce more” might succeed in producing enough to help by “late this year or early in 2015.” In the US, the Food and Drug Administration is working with the National Institutes of Health “to fund the development of Ebola drugs and to speed up treatments already in the pipeline.”

        The Los Angeles Times (8/13, Morin) reports that Kieny said the decision that use of “experimental, nonapproved drugs” is ethical was the unanimous decision of the experts. In response, she said that “a panel of experts would meet at the end of this month to review what experimental treatments were available and which had shown the greatest promise following animal experiments.” She did point out that in addition to ZMapp, there are “stocks of other experimental drugs available” including “blood-derived medications” and vaccines.

        The Wall Street Journal (8/13, McKay, Loftus, Subscription Publication) reports that the WHO announcement is intended to get manufacturers to produce more of their experimental medications, but it is not known whether that is even possible in the case of ZMapp.

        TIME (8/13, Kedmey) reports that the WHO “endorsed the use of untested experimental drugs for Ebola patients” given “the particular circumstances of this outbreak.”

        Bloomberg News (8/13, Bennett) reports that the WHO decision “gives stricken West African nations more confidence to request drugs and may yield valuable information on whether, and how, the medicines work.” Other experts questioned the WHO decision noting that there has been no testing for safety of the experimental medications. Still one expert said that ZMapp is expected to be fairly safe because “it’s a natural antibody.” Yet another specialist said that it may be possible “to use antibodies from the blood of survivors.” Meanwhile US National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases director Anthony Fauci pointed out that a small supply of experimental medications cannot be expected to “control an outbreak with hundreds and hundreds of people,” adding that the focus must be on public health efforts to stop the spread.