PHILADELPHIA, Sept. 8, 2014 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) --
Hemispherx Biopharma, Inc. (NYSE MKT:HEB) (the "Company" or
"Hemispherx"), announced that the Company and USAMRIID scientists have agreed to test Alferon(R), the only multi-species, natural alpha interferon (IFN) commercially approved in the U.S. and Ampligen(R), an experimental drug, to be evaluated against the deadly Ebola virus, which has been and remains a major focus of efforts at USAMRIID, a unit of the Department of Defense responsible for medical biological defense research.
USAMRIID reported in July of this year (
http://www.usamriid.army.mil/press_releases/Randy_Final_EID_July_2014.pdf) that samples from suspected Lassa fever cases in Sierra Leone showed that about two-thirds of the patients had been exposed to other emerging diseases, and nearly nine percent tested positive for Ebola virus. The study, published in this July's edition of Emerging Infectious Diseases, demonstrates that Ebola virus has been circulating in the region since at least 2006—well before the current outbreak, which is responsible for over 1000 deaths according to the WHO. Consequently, Ebola has been and remains a major focus of efforts at USAMRIID and the Department of Defense.
