The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation has pledged $5.7m towards a programme to increase production of experimental Ebola treatments in Guinea and other affected countries. The programme will focus on treatments derived from the blood of survivors.
The foundation also said the grant would be used to evaluate new experimental drugs.
The foundation, run by former Microsoft boss Bill Gates and his wife Melinda, said that it would work with several private partners to develop convalescent plasma treatments.
The treatments would used blood donated from Ebola survivors who had been screened for diseases.
The liquid plasma from the blood, containing disease-fighting antibodies, would then be isolated and injected directly into patients.
Dr. Papa Salif Sow, an infectious diseases expert working with the foundation, said that the programme would work with governments to “to rapidly identify and scale up potential lifesaving treatments”.
“The Gates Foundation is focusing its R&D investments on treatments, diagnostics, and vaccines that we believe could be quickly produced and delivered to those who need them if they demonstrate efficacy in stopping the disease” he said.
