FDA Gives Approval For Testing Experimental Ebola Drug Among Infected Patients

First Posted: Oct 17, 2014 10:51 PM EDT
Close

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has just approved an antiviral drug in patients who have Ebola.

The North Carolina drug maker, Chimerix, received clearance Thursday on how to proceed with a trial examining the safety and effectiveness of brincidofovir tablets in patients with the virus--an antiviral drug that was developed to treat several viruses, according to USA Today. 

"Our objective is really for us to determine what the safety and antiviral activity is of brincidofovir when used to treat Ebola virus, and really in the setting of the U.S., where we have patients that are basically being relocated from the West African theater, or in patients such as Mr. Duncan who presented with Ebola virus disease in the U.S. It is possible for us to get more intensive virologic monitoring" and understand how the drug works in the body in certain U.S. medical centers, said Chimerix Chief Medical Officer Garrett Nichols, via the Wall Street Journal.

The drug has also already been tested in human clinical trials to treat other viruses, including cytomegalovirus and adenovirus. However, up until now, the FDA had not yet approved its sale.

Yet the drug was made available earlier this month to Thomas Eric Duncan who learned of his Ebola infection at a hospital in Dallas. Unfortunately, he died a few days later after receiving the medication.

There are also two other experimental medications for Ebola in the works, including ZMapp from San Diego-based Mapp Pharmaceuticals and the TKM-Ebola injection, by Tekmira Pharmaceuticals of Canada.

See Now: NASA's Juno Spacecraft's Rendezvous With Jupiter's Mammoth Cyclone

©2017 ScienceWorldReport.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission. The window to the world of science news.

Join the Conversation

Real Time Analytics