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US government, military research program helped identify experimental Ebola treatment

The experimental drug used to treat two American aid workers who have been infected with the Ebola virus has never been tested on humans before and was only identified earlier this year as part of an ongoing research program backed by the U.S. government and military. 

Dr. Kent Brantly and Nancy Writebol have each received doses of the drug, known as ZMapp, aimed at boosting the immune system's efforts to fight off Ebola and is made from antibodies produced by lab animals exposed to parts of the virus.

The Associated Press reported that Writebol, 59, had received two doses of the drug while being treated in Liberia. She was en route to the United States for further treatment early Tuesday. Bruce Johnson, the president of SIM USA, the Charlotte, North Carolina-based group that Writebold works for in Africa, said that she was walking with assistance and had regained their appetite. 

Johnson told the Associated Press that he was hesitant to credit the drug for Writebold's improvement, saying "Ebola is a tricky virus and one day you can be up and the next day down. One day is not indicative of the outcome, [but] we're grateful this medicine was available."

Brantly, 33, who arrived at Emory University Hospital in Atlanta for further treatment Saturday, also was said to be improving. Besides the experimental ZMapp dose he got in Liberia, Brantly also received a unit of blood from a 14-year-old boy, an Ebola survivor, who had been under his care. That seems to be aimed at giving Brantly antibodies the boy may have made to the virus.

There is no vaccine or specific treatment for Ebola. Those who have survived the virus in the past have done so on their own. 

In a statement, drug maker Mapp Biopharmaceutical Inc. of San Diegosaid it was working with LeafBio of San Diego, Defyrus Inc. of Toronto, the U.S. government and the Public Health Agency of Canada on development of the drug, which was identified as a possible treatment in January.












The Associated Press contributed to this report.