Chinese firm eyes Ebola approval

A Chinese drug maker is seeking fast-track approval for a drug that it says can cure Ebola, as China joins the race to help treat a deadly outbreak of the disease that has spread from Africa to the US and Europe, Reuters reported Tuesday.

Sihuan Pharmaceutical Holdings Group has signed a tie-up with Chinese Academy of Military Medical Sciences (AMMS) to help push the drug called JK-05 through the approval process in China and bring it to market. The drug, developed by the academy, is currently approved for emergency military use only.

"We believe that we can file to China's Food and Drug Administration before the end of the year," Sihuan's Pharmaceutical chairman Che Fengsheng said during an investor call on October 8.

Sihuan's drug is only one contender amid a number of experimental cures worldwide to treat Ebola, although if successful it would be a boon for China's developing pharmaceutical sector.

One of the company's strengths was its close military ties, Che said. "We have myriad connections with the military medical science units and have developed lots of products in cooperation with the AMMS."

Che pointed out that a Chinese vaccine against a SARS outbreak a decade ago, also developed by the military, was approved by the drug regulator rapidly after its application, signaling that JK-05 could receive similar treatment.

China's Ebola cure bid still lags some way behind US--developed ZMapp and TKM-Ebola, but Sihuan management said the drug has proven effective during animal testing on mice.