(Bloomberg) Biotechnology researchers and U.S. officials are rushing to try to make more of what may be the most promising experimental drug to treat Ebola after supply ran out in August.
The drug, ZMapp, is made by Mapp Biopharmaceutical Inc. Mapp and its partners have had early discussions with Amgen Inc. (AMGN) about the feasibility of increasing production of the antibody cocktail using a traditional biotechnology manufacturing technique, said Bryan Callahan, a senior program officer with the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.
The foundation gave Mapp a $150,000 grant to look at whether a new large-scale production technique is possible. "No final decision has been made on the pharma partner," Callahan said in an e-mail. Amgen, based in Thousand Oaks, California, is the world's biggest biotechnology company by sales.
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