Nigerian health officers announced on Thursday that West African Ebola patients will not be able to use the experimental drug used on Americans.

The United States health ministry has informed Nigeria that they cannot yet access the experimental drug developed by U.S. and Canadian companies.

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Nigerian health minister Onyebuchi Chukwu said during a news conference that he spoke with U.S. health officials about using the experimental ZMapp "plantibodies" drug on West African patients, but he was told there were not enough quantities created.

Chukwu added that according to the health officials, even if the drug is successful in treating Ebola, it would take months for the new batch of drugs to be made.

ZMapp was used on missionaries Dr Kent Brantly and Dr Nancy Writebol of Christian organization Samantha's Purse who was infected by the virus after helping Ebola patients in Liberia.

The missionaries were given the experimental drug after being brought back to the U.S. and reports claim that they are now in recovery, according to the Guardian.

In a statement released by the U.S. Center for Disease Control (CDC), it will take a while to manufacture the drug as there are "virtually no doses available" on hand.

Even if enough supply will be manufactured, several U.S. agencies have questioned the bioethics of using the drug.

WHO set-up a meeting with medical ethics experts to provide an insight regarding using an unproven medical product on humans during such crisis.

"We are in an unusual situation in this outbreak. We have a disease with a high fatality rate without any proven treatment or vaccine," World Health Organization Assistant Director-General Dr Marie-Paule Kieny said. "We need to ask the medical ethicists to give us guidance on what the responsible thing to do is."

University of East health protection professor Paul Hunter, said in extreme cases, most doctors would want to utilize whatever alternative there is on hand.

Hunter thinks that ethical case is unequivocal. He said that patients should be given the experimental therapy if they have a reasonable chance to survive.

TagsNigeria, Africa