A new antiviral pill has been shown to be effective at treating Ebola in monkeys, potentially transforming the way we can control a disease that kills up to 90% of those infected.
The drug, obeldesivir, is an oral pill that doesn’t require refrigeration, meaning it could be distributed quickly and easily. Currently the only approved treatments are monoclonal antibody infusions, which require hospital administration.
The pill’s 100% success rate
Obeldesivir was originally approved to treat COVID-19 during the pandemic. In a study last week in Science Advances, researchers describe how they used the antiviral to treat macaques infected with Ebola virus.
The 2014–2016 West African outbreak was the deadliest on record, infecting over 28,000 people and killing more than 11,000 across Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone. It also spread beyond Africa, with cases reported in the US and Europe.
The pill is a polymerase inhibitor, meaning it blocks the virus from replicating inside the body. Not only did it clear the virus from the bloodstream, but it also helped the immune system develop protective antibodies – potentially offering long-term defence.
The antiviral was remarkably successful in laboratory tests – 100% of rhesus macaques and 80% of cynomolgus macaques survived after receiving treatment, even when infected with a high dose of the virus.
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The treated monkeys had a higher expression of proteins that support activation of the immune system’s T cells, better anti-inflammatory action and better dampening of any severe, and therefore dangerous, immune reaction.
This could mean, say the researchers, that obeldesivir could potentially be used as a prophylactic treatment for people who have been exposed to Ebola virus.
Ebola’s deadly history
Ebola is notorious for its horrific symptoms such as severe diarrhoea, vomiting and bleeding from the eyes and ears. Since it was first identified in 1976 near the Ebola river in what is now the Democratic Republic of the Congo, the virus has caused numerous outbreaks across Africa, with some reaching global concern.
The 2014–2016 West African outbreak was the deadliest on record, infecting over 28,000 people and killing more than 11,000 across Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone. It also spread beyond Africa, with cases reported in the US and Europe.
The 2018–2020 outbreak in the DRC was another severe crisis, killing over 2,200 people and complicating efforts due to conflict zones and attacks on health workers.
So, what’s next for the use of this drug? The breakthrough is still in the experimental stage, and the drug hasn’t been tested in humans yet.
But, given these early results, scientists are pushing for clinical trials as soon as possible. If successful, this could be the first-ever pill-based treatment for Ebola, revolutionising the way outbreaks are handled.