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Tekmira Ebola Drug Enters Phase II Trial

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NEW YORK (GenomeWeb) – Tekmira Pharmaceuticals announced today that its RNAi-based treatment for Ebola infection, TKM-Ebola-Guinea, has entered Phase II testing in Sierra Leone.

The single-arm, open-label trial is being conducted by the University of Oxford, which is representing the International Severe Acute Respiratory and Emerging Infection Consortium, with funding from the Wellcome Trust.

Data from the study are expected in the second half of the year.

"We have been working judiciously these last few months to finalize a suitable clinical trial protocol and to receive all the necessary ethics and regulatory approvals to enable TKM-Ebola-Guinea to be clinically evaluated in patients in Sierra Leone," Tekmira President and CEO Mark Murray said in a statement. "We expect the results of the study to help inform us on the potential further development of this important therapeutic."

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