Japan is offering the World Health Organization (WHO) an experimental drug that could help combat the fatal Ebola virus disease.

The anti-viral drug favipiravir, which is marketed under the brand name Avignan, has already been approved by the health ministry of Japan to combat flu. It hasn't yet been tested on Ebola patients, however.

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Favirpiravir works by inhibiting viral gene replication within infected cells. By doing so, the propagation of the virus is prevented.

WHO is still determining if it's "ethical" or would do more good than harm to give experimental treatments to patients.

"Even before the WHO reaches a conclusion, we are ready to respond to individual requests (from medical workers) under certain conditions if it is an urgent case," said Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga, a spokesperson for the Japanese government.

Suga stated that once WHO gives the go-signal, Japan will ship the drugs to the countries that need it.

The manufacturer, a subsidiary of Fujifilm Holdings Corporation, is currently in talks with the US Food and Drug Administration about testing the efficacy of favipiravir in treating Ebola.

The influenza virus being targeted by the drug and the ebola virus are very similar, said Fujifilm company spokesman Takao Aoki. Theoretically, ebola would possibly respond to the drug the same way the influenza virus does.

Fujifilm stated it has on hand stocks of favipiravir good enough for over 20,000 patients.

Since March this year, around 1,500 people have died frm the Ebola outbreak in Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone.

At the moment, there is no definite cure or treatment for the illness. The fatality rate for the disease is between 60 percent and 90 percent.

Two American humanitarian workers were given another experimental drug, ZMapp, and recovered from the disease. A Spanish priest and a Liberian doctor given the same treatment were not cured and died.