A spokesman says an Owensboro company is hiring more people and is working around the clock on an experimental medicine that was recently used on American aid workers who contracted Ebola.
Reynolds American Inc. acquired Kentucky BioProcessing in January. Reynolds spokesman David Howard said the company has put its full focus on the compound ZMapp. Kentucky BioProcessing was contracted by San Diego based drug maker Mapp Biopharmaceutical to produce ZMapp. It makes the compound using tobacco plants.
Howard says limited supplies of the compound, which takes about three months to make, are available.
The drug is still awaiting approval. The organization, Samaritan's Purse, says ZMapp was used on American aid workers Nancy Writebol and Kent Brantly while they were still in Liberia. Both recovered but doctors say it's unclear what role ZMapp played.
Meanwhile, Fort Campbell soldiers are preparing for their upcoming deployment to Africa with a color casing ceremony at the post Tuesday.
Soldiers of the 101st Airborne Division will be deploying to the west African nation of Liberia as part of the U.S. military's mission aimed at building Ebola care centers and training hundreds of health care workers. The goal is to stop the spread of the virus.
The Ebola virus has infected more that 7,470 in Sierra Leone, Guinea and Liberia and killed more than 3,400, though experts say the actual number is likely much higher.