Democratic Republic of Congo announces new Ebola outbreak (Photo: Evening Standard)
October 15, 2020
First Ebola treatment approved in US
The first drug for the treatment of Ebola
was approved in the United States by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA).
The drug, developed by Regeneron
Pharmaceuticals, was approved to treat adults and children with Zaire Ebola,
the most deadly strain of the virus.
The drug is one of four tested in the Congo
which suffered an outbreak that killed almost 2,300 people before ending in
June.
The study included 681 people who were given
one of the four treatments. Results showed that about a third of the patients
given the experimental drug died after four weeks.
The treatment is a combination of three
antibodies, given intravenously, that work by killing the virus.
A vaccine for the contagious Ebola virus
was approved by the FDA last December.
