A&M COULD HAVE KEY ROLE IN BATTLE AGAINST EBOLA

  

Texas A&M could play a key role in helping develop a standardized treatment for the Ebola virus.

Two Americans with Ebola have been given an experimental drug and are showing improvement.

If the treatment is successful, the Bryan/College Station Eagle reports that it could be mass-produced at the Texas A&M Center for Innovation in Advanced Development and Manufacturing.

The center is one of three locations in the United States able to standardize a treatment for a virus such as Ebola.

Scott Lillibridge, assistant dean and professor at the Texas A&M Health Science Center, says A&M would be able to take drugs that were under investigation and begin to produce them in a standardized fashion.

Although there are several candidate vaccines and antibody preparations, all are experimental. A lack of legalized drugs for the often-fatal virus can be traced to Ebola's episodic outbreaks and the relatively small number of people affected.

The current outbreak in Africa is the largest on record, with 1,600 people infected and 887 who have died.

Should Ebola be found in the U.S. though, Lillibridge says he doesn't expect an outbreak.