Antiviral drugs trialed to treat Bundibugyo Ebola exposure

A clinical trial of two antiviral drugs, obeldesivir and remdesivir, began Tuesday in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, as medical researchers sought a treatment for cases of Ebola caused by the Bundibugyo virus. The deadly virus has killed more than 700 people and infected nearly 2,000, mostly in the DRC, since mid-May. No treatments or vaccines for the Bundibugyo virus currently exist.

Humanitarian groups such as The Alliance for International Medical Action, or ALIMA, and Doctors Without Borders were helping recruit participants for the trial, according to the clinical trial’s website. Recruiters planned to enroll about 1,000 people. The obeldesivir trial participants are adults and children over age 12 who had direct contact with a confirmed case of the virus within the previous five days. Each participant will be monitored daily for 21 days, with a final visit at 42 days. Previous studies showed that obeldesivir prevented macaque monkeys from contracting lethal cases of some forms of the Ebola virus.

However, children under 12 and pregnant or breastfeeding women who qualify for the trial will receive remdesivir, which has been previously used to treat COVID-19. That’s because doctors don’t have enough data on the use of obeldesivir in those specific populations.

Which groups are funding and organizing the trial? The DRC’s National Institute for Biomedical Research, the French National Institute of Health and Medical Research, and ALIMA are conducting the trial. The European Commission pledged $3.9 million to fund the trial, while Africa CDC—an arm of the African Union—gave $1 million. The governments of South Africa and the DRC also invested several million dollars each.

It was unclear if the World Health Organization would fund the trial, but Director-General Tedros Ghebreyesus said he strongly supported it. If the trial is successful, it would be a major advance in protection against the Bundibugyo variant, he said.

Dig deeper: Read my report on the recent infection of a second U.S. humanitarian worker in the DRC.