China ships Ebola drug to W Africa

A new drug developed by China's Academy of Military Medical Sciences will be shipped to West Africa to help control an outbreak of Ebola in the area that has killed more than 1,550 people.

The new drug, jk-05, recently received approval from the People's Liberation Army's public health department following five years of research from a team led by Wang Hongquan from the Institute of Microbiology Epidemiology under the Academy of Military Medical Sciences.

The drug is said to be able to prevent Ebola from replicating itself by selectively suppressing the virus's RNA polymerase. Although the drug has passed safety evaluations in some clinical tests, medical experts have warned that the drug's use should be reserved for emergencies.

Since August, China has provided a total of 30 million yuan ($5 million) of goods to Sierra Leone, Liberia and Guinea-Bissau and dispatched medical teams to help fight Ebola.

"China has been a great leader in trying to help on this response. There are a lot of Chinese health workers in some of these affected countries. They are staying there and they are bringing in additional people to help provide health care," Bruce Aylward, assistant director-general of WHO, told Hong Kong-based Phoenix TV.