San Diego-based Aethlon Medical (OTC:AEMD) said its Hemopurifier blood-filtration device is being used to treat a Ugandan doctor hospitalized in Germany with advanced Ebola, the 1st time the device has been used to treat the deadly disease.
Aethlon said that details on how the patient is responding will be released once medical officials deem it appropriate.
The Hemopurifier is designed to filter out viruses and immunosuppressive proteins from the circulatory system.
"In the care of Ebola-infected individuals, the Hemopurifier targets two unmet medical needs: the rapid elimination of circulating Ebola to inhibit continued progeny virus replication and the direct targeting of shed glycoproteins that overwhelm the host immune response. The device can be deployed for use within the global infrastructure of dialysis and CRRT machines already located in hospitals and clinics," the company said in a statement.
In June 2013, the FDA approved Aethlon’s investigational device exemption application to initiate a 10-patient clinical trial of the Hemopurifier in the treatment of hepatitis C. The FDA will require at least one additional clinical trial before allowing Hemopurifier to be marketed in the U.S, according to the company.
"We are actively investigating Emergency Use Authorization, or EUA, approvals based on our previous human treatment experiences and broad-spectrum validation studies against viral pathogens," stated Aethlon CEO Jim Joyce, in an August statement on possibility of using the Hemopurifier to treat Ebola. "Should the outbreak of deadly viral pathogen provide us with opportunities to treat, we would first request clarity from the FDA that our response would not threaten our long-term clinical objectives in the United States … We have initiated our dialog with FDA. The results of these discussions will determine whether we request an opportunity to treat those infected with Ebola virus."
In addition to Ebola and hepatitis C, Aethlon believes the device could also be used to treat HIV and dengue fever. The company Aethlon also has a multi-year contract with the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, or DARPA, to develop the Hemopurifier as a possible treatment for the life-threatening blood infection sepsis.