WHO says Ebola treatment "saving lives" as Congo trials find drugs boost survival

Record ID: 1427446

  • Title: WHO says Ebola treatment "saving lives" as Congo trials find drugs boost survival
  • Date: 13th August 2019
  • Summary: GENEVA, SWITZERLAND (AUGUST 13, 2019) (REUTERS) U.N. REGULAR NEWS BRIEFING ONGOING (SOUNDBITE) (English) WORLD HEALTH ORGANIZATION (WHO) SPOKESMAN, CHRISTIAN LINDMEIER, SAYING: "The preliminary results in 499 study participants indicated that those individuals receiving Regeneron or mAb114 had a greater chance of survival compared to those participants with the other two. These are great news, of course, and these news will save lives and move us closer to finding an effective treatment for Ebola." JOURNALISTS AND U.N. STAFF (SOUNDBITE) (English) WORLD HEALTH ORGANIZATION (WHO) SPOKESMAN, CHRISTIAN LINDMEIER, SAYING: "Already after three days, it becomes late, but there is a figure for average outcome, but late as nine, 10 days, later, there is no specification. The important is coming the first three days, that is saving lives, and that is clearly proven to save lives. Therefore, all efforts go into making people aware to come as early as possible, because it literally shows you, with mortality rates between 6 and 11 percent, that there is a 90 percent chance of survival, whereas if you come late or don't look for treatment at all, there is a 90% chance of death." JOURNALISTS (SOUNDBITE) (English) WORLD HEALTH ORGANIZATION (WHO) SPOKESMAN, CHRISTIAN LINDMEIER, SAYING: "Ebola, as many have said before, lives in the forest, so we won't get rid of Ebola as such. But what we can achieve is that everybody is aware of the risk factors, that people at high risk or at risk get vaccinated by ring vaccination or other means, and that those who are infected get treatment earlier, and this will get us to the best possible results." JOURNALISTS AND U.N. STAFF (SOUNDBITE) (English) WORLD HEALTH ORGANIZATION (WHO) SPOKESMAN, CHRISTIAN LINDMEIER, SAYING: "So let us not forget, we now have a vaccine which is highly efficacious. We have treatment which really shows good data. So overall, this is positive news, and these are great new tools or great tools for our toolbox. But it doesn't stop Ebola alone. What will stop Ebola, under the leadership of the government in the DRC (Democratic Republic of Congo) is good surveillance, good infection prevention and control, good community engagement and excellent vaccination. So of course, the human factor is a very important factor here."
  • Embargoed: 27th August 2019 15:14
  • Keywords: Ebola outbreak Democratic Republic of Congo treatment Geneva United Nations disease health
  • Location: BENI, DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF CONGO / GENEVA, SWITZERLAND
  • City: BENI, DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF CONGO / GENEVA, SWITZERLAND
  • Country: Switzerland
  • Topics: Health/Medicine
  • Reuters ID: LVA003AS1XTFR
  • Aspect Ratio: 16:9
  • Story Text: The World Health Organization (WHO) praised on Tuesday (August 13) "life-saving" Ebola treatments after two experimental drugs out of four showed survival rates of as much as 90 percent in a clinical trial in the Democratic Republic of Congo.
    The two experimental drugs, an antibody cocktail called REGN-EB3 developed by Regeneron and a monoclonal antibody called mAb114, bring scientists a step closer to being able to cure the deadly Ebola haemorrhagic fever.
    The drugs will now be offered in 14 treatment centres to all patients infected with the viral disease in Congo's persisting outbreak, the second largest in history that is now entering its second year.
    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.
    29% of the patients on REGN-EB3 and 34% on mAb114 died in the study. In comparison, 49% of the patients on ZMapp and 53% on Remdesivir died.
    The WHO however warned that the best survival rates happened when patients received treatments in the first three days of contracting the virus, with death rates ranging from 6 to 11 percent, making it crucial that people come for a cure as early as possible.
    The two 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 treatments will now be dropped.
    Of the patients who were brought into treatment centres with low levels of virus detected in their blood, 94 percent of those who got REGN-EB3 and 89 percent of those on mAb114 survived.
    In comparison, two-thirds of the patients who got Remdesivir and nearly three-quarters on ZMapp survived.
    Ebola has been spreading in eastern Congo since August 2018 in an outbreak that has now killed at least 1,800 people. Efforts to control it have been hampered by militia violence and some local resistance to outside help.
    A vast Ebola outbreak in West Africa from 2013 to 2016 became the world's largest ever when it spread through Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone and killed more than 11,300 people.
    The Congo treatment trial, which began in November last year, is being carried out by an international research group coordinated by the WHO.
    (Production: Marina Depetris, Ardee Napolitano)
  • Copyright Holder: REUTERS
  • Copyright Notice: (c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2019. Open For Restrictions - http://about.reuters.com/fulllegal.asp
  • Usage Terms/Restrictions: None
Register