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 The pharmaceutical company said on Tuesday that the new drug, part
of its TKM-Ebola program, would be available by early December but
did not specify how many doses it was making.
Tekmira was not available for comment on the therapeutic, including
whether it was manufacturing a drug or vaccine.
Tekmira's investigational new drug application to U.S. regulators
for TKM-Ebola remains on partial clinical hold, with the issue
expected to be resolved in the quarter.
U.S.-listed shares of the company rose as much as 6 percent in
trading after the company gave an update on its Ebola program.
Tekmira has completed the design of a modified RNAi (ribonucleic
acid interference) drug that targets the Ebola-Guinea variant, the
virus responsible for the worst outbreak on record that has hit
hardest Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea.
TKM-Ebola, an RNAi therapeutic, works by preventing the virus from
replicating.
The European Medicines Agency said on Monday it was ready to offer
Ebola treatments and vaccines the benefits of "orphan" drug status -
including extended market exclusivity - in a bid to encourage their
development.
Initial clinical trials of Ebola vaccines from GlaxoSmithKline and
NewLink Genetics are already under way, the World Health
Organization said on Tuesday.
Mapp Biopharmaceutical Inc gave its experimental Ebola treatment
ZMapp to American medical workers Dr. Kent Brantly and Nancy
Writebol, who recovered after contracting Ebola in Liberia, and to
at least one Spanish priest, who died.
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Mapp said it had begun manufacturing the drug using traditional
methods, which would allow the company to produce more of the drug
so that human testing can be carried out.
Three Ebola cases have been diagnosed in the United States: Liberian
Thomas Eric Duncan, who died on Oct. 8 at Texas Health Presbyterian
Hospital in Dallas, and two nurses who treated him.
In September, U.S. and Canadian regulators authorized the use of
Tekmira's TKM-Ebola in patients who have confirmed or suspected
infections from the deadly virus.
(Reporting by Tanvi Mehta in Bangalore; Editing by Lisa Shumaker)
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