The World Health Organization (WHO) has announced the launch of a clinical trial evaluating experimental treatments for the Ebola virus strain responsible for the ongoing deadly outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).
WHO Director‑General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus confirmed that the first patient has been enrolled in the trial in the DRC on Thursday.
According to WHO, the outbreak in the DRC alone has recorded more than 1,400 confirmed cases and 438 deaths to date.
At present, there are no approved vaccines or treatments for the highly infectious Bundibugyo strain of Ebola.
The trial is sponsored by WHO and coordinated by researchers from the Institut National de Recherche Biomédicale (DRC), the Institute of Tropical Medicine (Belgium), and the University of Oxford (UK).
Speaking to reporters at WHO headquarters in Geneva on Thursday, Tedros stated, “The clinical trial of two investigational therapeutics has commenced with the enrolment of the first patient.”
Even without approved therapeutics, people are recovering from this disease, but we could save many more lives with safe and effective treatments in our toolkit, the WHO head added.
