An Ebola patient who received Hemopurifier® therapy has been reported to have been discharged from Frankfurt University Hospital in Germany. The patient was a Ugandan physician, who became infected with Ebola in Sierra Leone where he was treating other Ebola patients.
Background
Aethlon Medical describes its Hemopurifier® as a first-in-class bio-filtration device that targets the rapid elimination of viruses and immunosuppressive proteins from the circulatory system of infected individuals.
At the time Hemopurifier® therapy was administered to the Ugandan physician, he was unconscious and suffered from multiple organ failure. His viral load prior to the administration of a single 6.5-hour Hemopurifier® treatment was measured at 400,000 virus copies per milliliter of blood (copies/ml). Post-treatment viral load was measured at 1,000 copies/ml and never again rose above that level. Indeed his viral load became undetectable five days after therapy. The treatment was well tolerated with no adverse events reported. Additionally, a post-treatment elution protocol verified that 242 million Ebola viruses were captured within the Hemopurifier® during treatment.
In the United States, Hemopurifier® therapy is available to treat Ebola patients through FDA expanded access “emergency use” provisions to address life threatening circumstances for which an alternative therapy is not available. At present, no antiviral therapy or vaccine has proven to be effective against Ebola virus infection in humans.
Aethlon will soon begin the first U.S. clinical Hemopurifier® studies following the U.S. FDA’s approval of an Investigational Device Exemption (IDE). The study will contribute safety data to advance the device as a broad-spectrum countermeasure against bioterror and pandemic threats, including Ebola and chronic viral pathogens such as HIV and Hepatitis C (HCV).
Source: Aethlon Medical, Inc., PR Newswire
published: December 1, 2014 in: News