Mapp Biopharmaceuticals, a biotech firm based in Sorrento Valley, has found itself in the national and international spotlight after two American missionaries appear to be recovering from the Ebola virus, following a dose of the company’s experimental serum, ZMapp.
Doctors treating the patients have reported a dramatic improvement in their condition within hours of the drug being administered.
Thus far, there has been no cure or vaccine for Ebola, which has a mortality rate of as much as 90%. Experts are quick to say that more testing on the serum co-developed by Mapp is needed, but the promise of changing the progression of the outbreak of Ebola in Africa has given hope to many within the medical community.
Mapp Biopharmaceuticals has conducted its research within a consortium of companies working to create drugs that may be used to treat Ebola. The 15 institutions are led by La Jolla’s Scripps Research Institute, and are being funded by a National Institutes of Health five-year grant.
Currently, Mapp Biopharmaceuticals has only nine employees. The company is working with government agencies to increase serum production as quickly as possible. When a company faces that kind of expansion, it often needs to bring on more employees, which can necessitate additional business card printing, as well as the need for other printing services.
