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Jerusalem - Shares in Israeli biotech company Protalix jumped on Sunday following a news report that its technology could be used to develop an Ebola treatment similar to the experimental drug ZMapp, which has shown promising results in recent trials.
Israel's Channel 2 television reported that Protalix's facility in northern Israel is one of the only places in the world with the technology to mass produce a medicine like ZMapp, which uses antibodies from tobacco plants.
Protalix stock was up 10% to 10.07 shekels in Tel Aviv by early afternoon on Sunday, having risen as much as 18% earlier. The company's chief executive said that while future collaboration with the manufacturer of ZMapp was possible, it was still purely theoretical.
The stock had fallen nearly 60% since the start of 2013 until last week.
ZMapp, made by privately held Mapp Biopharmaceutical, based in San Diego, has drawn much attention this summer.
Biological drugs
Two American aid workers who contracted Ebola in Liberia recovered after receiving ZMapp, though their physicians do not know if the drug helped. A Liberian doctor with the disease died despite being given the drug, as did a Spanish priest.
Scientists also reported last month that, in a trial, all 18 of a group of lab monkeys infected with the deadly virus recovered after being treated with ZMapp.
The head scientist at Protalix said the company can genetically engineer tobacco, has production capacity that exceeds its needs, and offered to produce large amounts of the Ebola drug for Mapp Biopharmaceutical in a relatively short time.
Protalix CEO David Aviezer said on Sunday Protalix's technology produces biological drugs in plant cells and it already has a Federal Drug Administration-approved drug to treat Gaucher disease.
He said the company is trying to use its technique to develop antibodies for different diseases.
