Protalix shares wipe out gains as CEO clarifies Ebola possibilities

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Protalix shares wipe out gains as CEO clarifies Ebola possibilities

By Ari Rabinovitch and Steven Scheer JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Shares of Israeli biotech firm Protalix reversed gains on Sunday after the company's chief executive threw cold water on a news report that its technology could be used to develop a version of the Ebola experimental drug ZMapp. Protalix stock had jumped as much as 18 percent after Channel 2 television reported on Saturday that the company's facility in northern Israel was one of the only places in the world with the technology to mass-produce a medicine like ZMapp, which uses antibodies from tobacco plants and has shown promising results in trials. In the Channel 2 report, the head scientist at Protalix said the company, which produces biological drugs in plant cells and already has a Federal Drug Administration-approved drug to treat Gaucher disease, could produce large amounts of the Ebola drug for San Diego, Calif.-based Mapp Biopharmaceutical in a relatively short time.

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