Colorized scanning electron micrograph of filamentous Ebola virus particles (green) attached and budding from a chronically infected VERO E6 cell (orange) (25,000x magnification)FLICKR, NIAIDUsing a novel drug-screening approach, researchers have found more than 50 drugs that show potential as anti-Ebola treatments, according to a study published today (December 17) in Emerging Microbes and Infections. The team used a noninfectious Ebola virus mimic to assess the ability of a large number of drugs to inhibit entry of the viral impostor into human cells. The researchers focused their search on drugs approved by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and those in investigational trials, in the hopes of cutting costs and risks associated with early-stage drug development.
“Looking at approved drugs—especially in the context of an outbreak—and this type of off-list use of potential drugs, is useful,” said Matthew Frieman, a virologist at the University of Maryland School of Medicine who was not involved in this study. “It can start discussions with doctors and clinicians in the field.”
More than 18,000 people have been infected with Ebola—including nearly 7,000 reported deaths—as part of the ongoing outbreak in West Africa, according to the World Health Organization. Although the Ebola virus was first identified in 1976, drugs to treat the disease have been difficult to develop. The current outbreak has spurred the use of experimental drugs to treat Ebola with some success.
Adolfo García-Sastre, director of the Global Health and Emerging Pathogens Institute at ...
