China has sent thousands of doses of an experimental anti-Ebola drug developed by the Chinese military to Africa. The company manufacturing the drug said it plans to start human clinical trials there soon.

Sihuan Pharmaceutical, the private Chinese company that last week purchased the rights to commercialise jk-05 from a branch of the People’s Liberation Army (PLA), said it began manufacturing the drug after it was approved in August as a “special drug for military needs”.

The Chinese military has already sent enough of the drug to treat 10,000 people to west Africa, according to Dr Huo Caixia, associate president of research and development for Sihuan and head of its Beijing Aohe Drug Research Institute. Sihuan, whose founders are former military doctors, is part-owned by Morgan Stanley private equity funds.