Device Used to Treat Ebola Made in San Diego

Device created in University City used to treat Ugandan doctor who contracted Ebola in Sierra Leone and is being treated in Germany

A new medical device designed in San Diego has been used to treat an Ebola patient in Germany, company officials confirmed Wednesday.

A Ugandan doctor who contracted the Ebola virus in Sierra Leone was treated with the Aethlon Hemopurifier last week at a hospital Frankfurt, Germany.

The dialysis-like device has an antiviral and an immunotherapeutic affect, according to Aethlon Medical, Inc. CEO Jim Joyce.

It removes an infectious virus before cells and organs can be infected and eliminates the proteins viruses release to suppress the immune system.

โ€œWe know the majority of the times, the immune system loses the battle against Ebola. This device is designed to tip the balance in favor of the immune system,โ€ Joyce told NBC 7.

The Hemopurifier may help improve the benefit of ZMapp, an anti-viral agent used to treat seven Ebola patients including survivors Dr. Kent Brantley and Nancy Writebol. It has also been used on an English nurse, a Spanish priest and two Liberian doctors who contracted Ebola. The priest and one of the doctors died despite receiving the treatment.

ZMapp was developed by Mapp Bio located in Sorrento Valley north of San Diego.

โ€œIn Ebola when you think about such massive viral load counts, itโ€™s very clear that weโ€™re going to need to be able to combine multiple therapies working in combination,โ€ Joyce said.

The device can also work with dialysis and CRRT machines already in hospitals around the world.

With high-risk pathogens like Ebola, itโ€™s not feasible to conduct clinical studies on humans. However, the company will launch a study next month that will recruit patients with the Hepatitis C virus to demonstrate the safety of the device.

That data will be used to create a model for how the device may be used on other pathogens like the deadly Ebola virus.

One of Aethlon Medical's executives traveled from the companyโ€™s headquarters in University City to Germany to be present while the device was being used.

The condition of the patient will be reported once Frankfurt University Hospital provides a formal update.

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