Secret Ebola Drug is Difficult to produce

Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute for Allergy and Infectious Diseases in the US on Tuesday said that the serum Zmapp given to the two American patients with Ebola will be hard to produce on a large scale.

The serum consists of three antibodies manufactured in modified tobacco leaves, which take weeks to grow.

According to Anthony Fauci, “We cannot say right now that this drug is particularly promising, the animal data are very good and the use of it in the two patients is suggestive that it may have a favorable effect, but since there are only two patients I think you have to be careful about making any definitive decision"

"It is going to take several months to get even a modest amount," he said.
Fauci  said that the process of scaling up production will take time.