Finally, there might be some good news regarding treatment of Ebola, the terrible disease that has broken out in West Africa’s Congo in several of the last few years. Two of four experimental Ebola drugs being tested there seem to be saving lives, international health authorities announced Monday.
The preliminary findings prompted an early halt to a major study on the drugs. Instead of continuing the testing, officials decided to put them to use in the African country. Tragically, a yearlong outbreak there has killed more than 1,800 people.
The early results mark “some very good news,” says Dr. Anthony Fauci of the U.S. National Institutes of Health, which helped fund the study. With these drugs, “we may be able to improve the survival of people with Ebola.”
The two drugs—one developed by Regeneron Pharmaceuticals and the other by National Institute of Health researchers—are antibodies. They work by blocking the virus.
There is an effective but still experimental vaccine for Ebola now in existence. It is being used in Congo. But no studies prior to this one had proven which treatments were best once people actually became sick with the disease.
With the current outbreak, researchers compared the two drugs above with the effects of two others. They reviewed on Friday how the first several hundred patients were faring. They found enough positive improvement to halt the trial early. The panel of scientists determined that Regeneron was clearly working better than the rest. The NIH antibody wasn’t far behind.
Fauci stressed that the data is preliminary. He would prefer more testing time. But people are in such desperate need that delaying the drug’s use could cost those lives.
Among people who receive no care at all for Ebola, about 75% die, says Dr. Michael Ryan of the World Health Organization. The short study by Fauci’s team saw that number drop to only 6% with the Regeneron drug—and that put his team into quick action for the individuals currently suffering. All of Congo’s Ebola treatment units have access to the two drugs now, Ryan adds. He hopes that news will spread faster than the disease—so that patients will seek care as soon as symptoms appear.
When [Jesus] saw a great crowd, He had compassion on them and healed their sick. — Matthew 14:14
(Esperance Nabintu holds her one-year-old son, Ebenezer Fataki, after the two are declared cured of Ebola in Goma, Congo, on August 13, 2019. The two received treatment with new anti-Ebola drugs. AP Photo)
