- Title: Ebola 'no longer incurable' as Congo trial finds drugs boost survival
- Date: 15th August 2019
- Summary: KINSHASA, DRC (AUGUST 15, 2019) (REUTERS) ***WARNING: CONTAINS FLASH PHOTOGRAPHY*** PEOPLE SITTING AT NEWS CONFERENCE JEAN JACQUE MUYEMBE, DIRECTOR GENERAL OF THE NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF BIOMEDICAL RESEARCH (INRB) LISTENING MUYEMBE LISTENING, SITTING NEXT TO MICHAEL HAMMER, U.S. AMBASSADOR TO DRC TALKING HAMMER TALKING NEWS CONFERENCE IN PROGRESS (SOUNDBITE) (French) DIRECTOR GENERAL OF NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF BIOMEDICAL RESEARCH (INRB), JEAN JACQUE MUYEMBE, SAYING: "Now we are saying that following numerous studies outside (of the DRC) and our study, with the collaboration of NIH (National Institutes of Health) we have found the solution to this fatal illness and we have developed an antibody, which we call monoclonal antibody mAb114 which we can be administered to the sick. And with our product we give a single shot and the ill are cured. The other drug which is efficient is Regeneron." VARIOUS OF MEN LISTENING (SOUNDBITE) (French) DRC'S MINISTRY OF HEALTH SECRETARY GENERAL, YUMA RAMAZANI, SAYING: (AUDIO AS INCOMING) "We believe that with these new strategies, we will control the epidemic in three to four months in view of the fact that controlling the epidemic does not rely solely on having curative products but relies on a number of pillars that must work together to reach effective control of the epidemic." VARIOUS OF RAMAZANI SITTING AND SMILING CAMERAMAN FILMING (SOUNDBITE) (French) PROFESSOR FROM NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF BIOMEDICAL RESEARCH (INRB), MULANGU SAPU OF, SAYING: "The last meeting was last Friday when we analysed the preliminary results and whilst doing this analysis we noticed that the results for Remdesivir, one of the molecules used, were inferior to those of ZMapp, the control molecule. And Zmapp had a lower level than Regeneron and mAb114 which had an efficiency close to that of Regeneron. So the committee decided that we could stop with the two inferior molecules, the most inferior, in terms of their capacity, ZMapp and Remdesivir, and they decided to recommend that we can continue to treat patients with mAb114 and Regeneron which are the two molecules that showed they were efficient." PEOPLE STANDING TO LEAVE
- Embargoed: 29th August 2019 22:27
- Keywords: Ebola cure medical advance virus drugs EGN-EB3 mAb114 Remdesivir
- Location: KINSHASA, DRC
- City: KINSHASA, DRC
- Country: Congo, Democratic Republic of the
- Topics: Health/Medicine
- Reuters ID: LVA001ASBYJWN
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text:Scientists are a step closer to being able to cure the deadly Ebola haemorrhagic fever after two experimental drugs showed survival rates of as much as 90% in a clinical trial in Congo.
Two experimental drugs - an antibody cocktail called REGN-EB3 developed by Regeneron and a monoclonal antibody called mAb114 - will now be offered to all patients infected with the viral disease in an ongoing outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).
Jean-Jacques Muyembe, director general of Congo's National Institute of Biomedical Research in DRC, who co-led the trial, said the results meant that "we have found the solution to this fatal illness".
"From now on, we will no longer say that Ebola is incurable," Muyembe added.
The drugs showed "clearly better" results, according to U.S. National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), in a trial of four potential treatments being conducted during the second-largest Ebola outbreak in history, now entering its second year in DRC.
The drugs improved survival rates from the disease more than two other treatments being tested - ZMapp, made by Mapp Biopharmaceutical, and Remdesivir, made by Gilead Sciences - and those products will be now dropped, said Anthony Fauci, one of the researchers co-leading the trial.
The agency said 49% of the patients on ZMapp and 53% on Remdesivir died in the study. In comparison, 29% of the patients on REGN-EB3 and 34% on mAb114 died.
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