Exclusive: Race begins to trial Ebola drugs amid current outbreak

The World Health Organization (WHO) declared an outbreak of Ebola in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) a public health emergency of international concern on 17 May. Credit: Jospin Mwisha/AFP via Getty Scientists are racing to trial experimental treatments and potentially vaccines against a rare Ebola species that is spreading in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) and Uganda. There are no approved treatments or vaccines against Ebola Bundibugyo virus, which has been linked to 336 suspected cases and 88 deaths, according to data from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention as of on 17 May. Nature has learnt that a World Health Organization (WHO)-sponsored clinical trial of two experimental treatments for Ebola Bundibugyo virus disease is in the works, pending approval by the governments of DRC and Uganda. Health officials are also considering whether an approved vaccine for another species of Ebola virus could be trialled in the current outbreak. “I think we’re in a really strong position to quickly launch trials,” says Amanda Rojek, a clinical researcher at the University of Oxford, UK, who is part of the treatments trial. “We’re working day and night at the moment.” Investigational therapies Rojek, who is part of a WHO effort to rapidly trial treatments against filoviruses, which includes Ebola and Marburg viruses, during outbreaks, says the trial will focus on two therapies. …