Shares of Tekmira Pharmaceuticals TKMR surged as much as 17% to a share price of $23.61 per share after the FDA and Health Canada have agreed to allow TKM-Ebola to be given to patients under the "compassionate use" clause. Also in addition to that news, news came in after the bell on September 22nd stating that TKM-Ebola was used to treat Dr. Rick Sacra, who was infected with the Ebola virus. Dr. Sacra was infected because he was attempting to help patients in West Africa, but was afflicted with the disease himself. TKM-Ebola was one of his forms of treatment, though he received other experimental drugs as well.  Tekmira Pharmaceuticals may be able to obtain some revenue from treating patients with its drug, although investors should note that this Ebola drug for Tekmira won't generate billions of dollars, not even millions of dollars either. That is because as of right now there are limited patients that currently carry the ebola virus, and it may not be a profitable disease to treat in the future. In the interim, though, the stock will trade higher on the ebola hype. This news is bullish for Tekmira in the short term although it is unclear how it will affect the share price in the long term.

The share price going up 17% was a nice boost, although today the stock did continue some of its gain with additional news. The news today was that Tekmira would be allowed to test their TKM-Ebola drug on patients infected with the ebola virus. Many months ago the FDA put the TKM-Ebola drug on hold due to safety concerns. This goes to show though how quickly the tide can change in the biotechnology industry and investors need to be ready when this type of volatility occurs.  On top of testing out their ebola drug on patients deemed to be infected by the ebola virus, Tekmira has stated that it has been selected to take part in clinical trial in Africa as part of an international effort to curb the spread of the ebola virus.

More tests are needed to particularly confirm that TKM-ebola was the drug responsible for saving Dr. Sacra's life, although we believe it is a high possibility as Tekmira's LNP -- Lipid Nanoparticle -- technology encapsulates siRNA or small interfering RNA molecules. The basic function of these molecules are to stop the genes of the ebola virus from producing proteins and then spreading throughout the body. TKM-ebola if proven to succeed in other patients will produce a great confirmation for Tekmira's LNP technology platform.

The company has other pipeline candidates that it is working on, like its Oncology franchise. Tekmira's oncology franchise is targeting solid tumors and those results are expected to come in several months. We believe that Tekmira Pharmaceuticals is a great long term name regardless of the ebola drug compound. Investors should note that the company is not dependent on the TKM-ebola drug. The TKM-ebola drug is just an extra boost for the stock, but in the long term the company can succeed without TKM-ebola.