

Tobacco plant may be key to Ebola drugs - Thevet
http://www.cnn.com/2014/10/03/health/ebola-tobacco-plant/

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giancarlostoro
I'm a casual cigar smoker, all tobacco, no cigarettes though, but there's
another cure as well, Apparently Garcinia kola? I haven't researched it
though.

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fourstar
I still don't believe this thing is 100% effective. What about the Liberian
doctor who received Zmapp and died?

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kens
Most things aren't 100% effective, and I don't think anyone is claiming that
Zmapp is. The FDA only requires drugs to be effective for a significant
portion of users, not 100%.

The FDA's definition of effective is: “There is reasonable assurance that a
device is effective when it can be determined, based upon valid scientific
evidence, that in a significant portion of the target population, the use of
the device for its intended uses and conditions of use, when accompanied by
adequate directions for use and warnings against unsafe use, will provide
clinically significant results.”

[http://web.stanford.edu/group/biodesign/regulatory/materials...](http://web.stanford.edu/group/biodesign/regulatory/materials/safety_slides.pdf)

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fourstar
The thing is, this was given to 3 people with Ebola as far as I know.

One was a doctor from Liberia who died.

2 others came to the US for treatment.

If the death rate of Ebola is 70%, that data is probably germane to the
quality of the health care in those affected regions, which makes me wonder if
the drug is really what helped the 2 who survived, or the increase in health
care quality of the US.

It's just too early to tell, and the article that was linked sensationalizes
something that we don't even know is the verifiable answer.

