Kalorama: Ebola Fight Illustrates Difficulty of Getting Pharmaceuticals to Market

NEW YORK, Oct. 6, 2014 /PRNewswire/ -- The FDA's grant of permission of "expanded access" to Tekmira to administer an experimental medicine for Ebola highlights not only the grave threat the disease outbreak presents, but also the difficulty of bringing life-saving products such as vaccines to market, according to Kalorama Information. The healthcare market research publisher studied vaccine production in its recent report, Biopharmaceutical and Vaccine Production Markets.

The report can be obtained at: http://www.kaloramainformation.com/redirect.asp?progid=86704&productid=8357580.

The number of patients with Ebola in Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone has surpassed 6,500 with more than 3,000 deaths. Unfortunately, supportive care is really all caregivers can provide for those patients infected with Ebola virus. Although the FDA has authorized the company Tekmira to provide the drug TKM-Ebola for treatment of subjects with confirmed or suspected Ebola virus infections under expanded access protocols, supplies of the therapeutic product are small, limiting the number of patients Tekmira will be able to treat.

Though biotechnology has created many new therapies and vaccines – including products to treat cancer, diabetes, HIV/AIDS and autoimmune disorders – there are still huge challenges during the final stages of clinical drug testing for new biopharmaceuticals. Kalorama Information's Biopharmaceutical and Vaccine Production Markets examines the total biopharmaceutical manufacturing market, including in its estimates all costs related to biopharmaceutical and vaccine production.

In the case of this Ebola outbreak in West Africa, the most effective way to halt the virus' spread is through careful work in finding Ebola cases, isolating and caring for those sufferers, and tracing contacts to stop the chains of transmission. People must be educated about safe burial practices; healthcare workers must strictly follow infection control protocols in hospitals. Lacking any pharmaceutical treatment, this is how all previous Ebola outbreaks have been stopped.

According to the market research publisher, estimates for biopharmaceuticals during the past five years have varied widely as producers have juggled the promise of new drugs with the technological and financial risks of manufacturing them efficiently. Perhaps the troubling developments in West Africa will bring the FDA to reevaluate its role in the approval of life-saving products and lessen the burden on market participants.

The Biopharmaceutical and Vaccine Production Markets report notes the current competitive environment, listing selected biopharmaceutical contract manufacturers, selected top-selling biopharmaceuticals, selected Asian biomanufacturing contract manufacturing organizations (CMOs), the top 10 biopharma companies based on 2012 biopharma revenues, and the top manufacturers by global biopharmaceutical manufacturing capacity. Find this report in addition to other industry leading research from Kalorama at: http://www.kaloramainformation.com/.

About Kalorama Information -- Kalorama Information, a division of MarketResearch.com, supplies the latest in independent medical market research in diagnostics, biotech, pharmaceuticals, medical devices and healthcare; as well as a full range of custom research services. We routinely assist the media with healthcare topics. Follow us on Twitter, LinkedIn and our blog.

Contact:
Bruce Carlson
(212) 807-2622
[email protected]
www.KaloramaInformation.com

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SOURCE Kalorama Information