Aethlon Medical, Inc. announced this week that officials at Frankfurt University Hospital have reported no detectable virus in an Ebola patient previously disclosed to have received Hemopurifier therapy with Aethlon’s novel bio-purification device.
The patient, a Ugandan doctor, was cured of the virus and is headed to a full recovery, according to reporting from the Wall Street Journal.
The Aethlon Hemopurifier is a first-in-class blood-filtering device that targets the rapid elimination of viruses and immunosuppressive proteins from the circulatory system of infected individuals. The Hemopurifier filter works by hindering a virus’s ability to replicate while allowing the immune system to rebound.
The patient at Frankfurt University Hospital was administered Hemopurifier therapy through special approval from The Federal Institute for Drugs and Medical Devices (Bundesinstitut fur Arzneimittel und Medizinprodukte, BfArM), an independent federal authority within the portfolio of the Federal Ministry of Health of Germany.
“It is truly wonderful that the patient, who was reported to be suffering from multiple organ failure, is now recovering from Ebola infection,” stated Aethlon founder and CEO, Jim Joyce. “In the coming days, we will disclose the venue of a public presentation that will report treatment data including the quantification of viral load reduction and viruses captured by our Hemopurifier during the treatment of this patient.”
In the care of Ebola-infected individuals, the Hemopurifier targets two unmet medical needs: the rapid elimination of circulating viruses to inhibit continued progeny virus replication and the direct targeting of shed glycoproteins that overwhelm the host immune response. The device can be deployed for use within the global infrastructure of dialysis and CRRT machines already located in hospitals and clinics.
Aethlon further disclosed that it is preparing to initiate U.S. clinical studies of Hemopurifier therapy based on the United States Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA) approval of an Investigational Device Exemption (IDE) that was previously submitted by the Company. The study will contribute safety data to advance the device as a broad-spectrum countermeasure against pandemic threats, including Ebola and chronic viral pathogens such as HIV and Hepatitis C (HCV).
To date, Hemopurifier therapy has been successfully administered in approximately one hundred treatment experiences in health compromised HIV and HCV infected individuals. These studies were conducted at the Apollo Hospital, Fortis Hospital, Sigma New Life Hospital, and the Medanta Medicity Institute, all located in India.
In vitro validation studies that demonstrated the ability of the Hemopurifier to capture Zaire and other strains of Ebola virus were conducted by researchers at the United States Army Medical Research Institute for Infectious Diseases (USAMRIID) and the United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
According to the World Health Organization (WHO), more than 5,000 deaths have been attributed to the current Ebola virus epidemic.
