Scientists win award for Ebola antivirus




Scientists win award for Ebola antivirus
Dr. Xiangguo Qiu and Dr. Gary Kobinger of the National Microbiology Lab in Winnipeg have won this year’s $100,000 Manning Innovation Principal Award for developing ZMapp, the world’s first Ebola disease antivirus.
"I am very honoured to be recognized for this award," says Dr. Qiu.
"As a scientist, I feel very lucky to see that our persistent efforts have resulted in saving people’s lives."
Qiu and Kobinger’s intellectual achievement spanned a decade’s search to find a treatment against the highly infectious and deadly Ebola virus infection.
The largest outbreak occurred from December 2013 to January 2016, when Ebola swept across West Africa, resulting in more than 28,000 cases and more than 11,000 deaths.
ZMapp was first used successfully for compassionate, emergency use in humans in July 2014.
It’s now the model driving the recent explosion of monoclonal antibody therapies against many other infectious agents such as HIV, Lassa, and Marburg among others.
They received the award at the 36th Manning Innovation Awards gala event at Toronto’s Scotiabank Centre on Wednesday night.

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