Tekmira to supply Ebola treatment for studies in West Africa

Reuters
Tekmira Pharmaceuticals Corporation's head office is pictured in Burnaby, British Columbia August 5, 2014. REUTERS/Ben Nelms

TORONTO (Reuters) - Tekmira Pharmaceuticals Corp will supply one of its experimental Ebola treatments for clinical studies to be conducted in West Africa by a consortium that includes England's Oxford university, the Canadian company said on Monday. Tekmira said 100 courses of its TKM-Ebola-Guinea treatment will be made available for the studies, and that it has entered into a manufacturing and clinical trial agreement with Oxford. The Tekmira treatment targets the Ebola-Guinea virus variant, responsible for the worst Ebola outbreak on record, which has hit the West African countries of Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea hardest. Oxford is working with the International Severe Acute Respiratory and Emerging Infections Consortium, a global research group that along with the World Health Organization, Médecins Sans Frontières and others won a grant in September to start drug trials at Ebola treatment centers in West Africa. Tekmira said the studies are expected to start early in the new year, but a protocol must be finalized first. (Reporting by Allison Martell; Editing by Peter Galloway)