New Ebola Drugs Highly Effective, Might Shorten Outbreak in Africa

Two experimental Ebola treatments have worked so well in the Democratic Republic of Congo outbreak that they will be offered to all patients, scientists say.

The treatments -- called REGN-EB3 and mAb-114 -- have saved about 90 percent of patients who received them early in the course of Ebola infection, The New York Times reported.

It is hoped that the treatments will end the epidemic in eastern Congo that the World Health Organization says has caused 2,800 known cases that have resulted in more than 1,800 deaths. The treatments -- both monoclonal antibodies -- are infused intravenously into a patient's blood and attach themselves to the outside of the Ebola virus, preventing it from invading cells, The Times reported.

REGN-EB3 and mAb-114 were part of a four-treatment trial that has included about 700 patients since November. Due to the high success rate of REGN-EB3 and mAb-114, a data-monitoring committee that met last Friday decided that the drugs should be offered to all patients. The two other drugs in the trial, ZMapp and remdesivir, were much less effective and should no longer be offered, the committee decided, The Times reported.

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