First-ever Multidrug Ebola Trial Launches

Officials with WHO's Ministry of Health of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) have announced that the first-ever, multidrug, randomized control trial has begun to evaluate the effectiveness and safety of drugs used in the treatment of Ebola patients. This trial forms part of a multioutbreak, multi-country study that was agreed to by partners under a WHO initiative.

More than 160 patients have thus far been treated with investigational therapeutics under an ethical framework developed by WHO, in consultation with experts in the field and the DRC, called the Monitored Emergency Use of Unregistered and Investigational Interventions (MEURI). The MEURI protocol was not designed to evaluate the drugs. Now that protocols for trials are in place, patients will be offered treatments under that framework in the facilities where the trial has started. In others, compassionate use will continue up to the time when they join the randomization. Patients will not be treated noticeably differently from before, though the treatment they receive will be decided by random allocation. The data gathered will become standardized and will be useful for drawing conclusions about the safety and efficacy of the drugs.

In October, WHO convened a meeting of international organizations, United Nations partners, countries at risk of Ebola, drug manufacturers and others to agree on a framework to continue trials in the next Ebola outbreak. Over time, this will lead to an accumulation of evidence that will help to draw robust conclusions across outbreaks about the currently available drugs, and any new ones that may come along.

At the heart of the long term plan and the current trial is always the goal to ensure that patients with Ebola and their communities are treated with respect and fairness. All patients should be provided with the highest level of care and have access to the most promising medications.

The current trial is coordinated by WHO, and led and sponsored by the DRC’s National Institute for Biomedical Research (INRB), in partnership with the DRC Ministry of Health, the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) which is part of the United States’ National Institutes of Health, The Alliance for International Medical Action (ALIMA) and other organizations.