Merck and Company (NYSE:MRK) is winning plaudits for vaccine to win the war against a killer Ebola virus.
It’s a virus that is once again wreaking havoc in the war-torn North Kivu and Ituri provinces of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, claiming an estimated 1,625 lives so far in its second-deadliest outbreak ever.
However, the latest outbreak, which has infected more than 2,400 people in the DRC since August, has helped fast-track limited governmental approval for some experimental vaccines that didn’t exist just a few years ago.
Ebola hemorrhagic fever, as it’s known, :is a rare but severe, often fatal illness in humans" that kills about half of all people who become infected with the virus, according to the World Health Organization.
Just a week after the DRC declared the Ebola outbreak in August, health-care workers were granted approval to use an unlicensed vaccine made by New Jersey-based Merck on a "compassionate basis," which allows the use of an unapproved drug when no other options are available.
It’s the first time the vaccine, which was still undergoing clinical trials during the West African outbreak earlier this decade, is being widely used and is being hailed as a "savior" for health-care workers in the Congo.
Said one WHO official, "One of the biggest saviors for us in this response, in my view, has been our ability to use vaccine very tactically in vaccinating around cases, contacts, contacts of contacts and we believe that has reduced transmission significantly."
Shares in MRK dropped 34 cents to $84.52
