Residents at the center of Congo’s Ebola crisis are looking to experimental therapies for hope, as researchers in early July launched a long-awaited study examining two potential treatments for the still-expanding outbreak.
At the Ebola treatment unit within Bunia’s Evangelical Medical Center in Ituri province, the start of the study unfolded with a sense of urgency rather than celebration.
While ambulances continued to arrive and medical staff vanished behind layers of protective gear to enter isolation wards, the research quietly progressed alongside the daily fight to save patients’ lives.
The virus behind this outbreak, known as Bundibugyo, is less common than other Ebola-causing strains, and no specific treatments or vaccines exist for it. More than 1,400 people have already been infected and 438 have died, according to Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, head of the World Health Organisation (WHO).
The WHO announced that the first participant had been enrolled in a study assessing whether the antiviral drug remdesivir, the experimental antibody therapy MBP134, or a combination of the two can improve survival in patients infected with the Bundibugyo virus.
According to WHO research adviser Dr. Vasee Moorthy, patient survival will be monitored for 28 days after treatment begins.
The WHO-backed study is being conducted in partnership with Congo’s national biomedical research institute INRB, Oxford University, the Institute of Tropical Medicine in Antwerp, and other international health organizations.
Professor Yap Boum, head of emergency response at the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention, said the trial currently involves confirmed Ebola patients receiving care in specialised treatment facilities. A second phase will expand to include healthcare workers, close contacts, and others at high risk of infection.
Professor Placide Mbala, who oversees laboratory operations for the ongoing outbreak, noted that the research could continue for three to six months, depending on how the outbreak progresses.
