Key facts
- A clinical trial for two potential Ebola treatments, remdesivir and MBP134, has commenced in the Democratic Republic of Congo.
- The World Health Organization confirmed the enrollment of the first patient in the trial.
- The current outbreak has resulted in over 1,400 confirmed cases and 438 deaths in the DRC.
- There are no approved treatments for the Bundibugyo virus strain of Ebola.
- The trial is a collaboration involving Congolese, Belgian, and UK institutions, with drug donations from Gilead Sciences and the U.S. government.
Researchers have initiated a clinical trial for two potential treatments against the Bundibugyo virus strain of Ebola in the Democratic Republic of Congo, where the outbreak has worsened. The World Health Organization announced the enrollment of the first patient, marking a critical step in finding effective therapies for a disease for which no approved treatments currently exist.
The current outbreak, which began in May and has also affected Uganda and France, has led to over 1,400 confirmed cases and 438 deaths in the DRC alone. WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus expressed hope that the trial will yield results to save more lives, noting that recovery is possible even without approved therapeutics.
The trial will assess Gilead Sciences' remdesivir, an antiviral, and Mapp Biopharmaceutical's experimental antibody-based treatment MBP134. Patients will receive standard care and be randomly assigned to one of the treatments or a control group, with survival monitored for 28 days. Dr. Vasee Moorthy, a WHO research adviser, cautioned that determining efficacy could take months and require up to 1,000 participants, though a highly effective drug might show results sooner.
Due to safety concerns in the region, including violence against healthcare workers, the study is currently limited to one treatment center in Ituri province, with plans for expansion once safety permits. Both drugs have been donated by Gilead and the U.S. government to support the trial.