China has made another extensive effort to help the West African regions most affected by the the dreaded Ebola virus as they sent thousands of doses of an experimental anti-Ebola drug developed by the Chinese military.

The drug, called jk-05, was originally made by a branch of China's People's Liberation Army (PLA) but a private company called Sihuan Pharmaceutical bought its rights and improved the drug.

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Sihuan was founded by previous military doctors and is partly owned by Morgan Stanley private equity funds.  

The experimental drug was originally designed for military needs but was later produced by the said company for any Chinese medical personnel that might be sent to West Africa for the Ebola epidemic, says Dr. Huo Caixia, the associate president of research and development for Sihuan and the head of the Beijing Aooohe Druc Research Institute.

Dr. Huo pressed that the drug is still subject to clinical trials on humans, which is now being designed, and that the drug has not been used to treat any Ebola patient before it was sent out to the affected regions in West Africa.

The jk-05 is a treatment to Ebola and is not a vaccine, according to Dr. Huo, it has already been used in animal tests and cells. The clinical trials will then be tested in West Africa when the drug doses will be used by the patients suffering from the virus and that's the only time that jk-05 will be proven to be safe and effective.

Based on a statement released by Sihuan, jk-05 is a drug that can selectively inhibit the replication of the virus by impeding the RNA polymerase of the said virus. Meaning, the key enzyme that the virus has will be blocked so it can no longer replicate, thus killing the virus eventually.

China initially sent 200 medical workers to the affected countries and also pledged US$35 million in medical assistance to Sierra Leone, Guinea, and Liberia.

In total, China already donated more than US$200 million and that amount would still increase depending on the situation in the coming weeks, based on their announcement during the World Bank crisis meeting held in Washington last week.

TagsWest Africa, Anti-Ebola drug, what is ebola, Ebola donation