Experimental Ebola Drug Being Tested In Guinea Shows Promising Early Results

Agence France-Presse: ‘Encouraging’ Ebola drug trial results in Guinea
“For the first time since the West African Ebola outbreak began over a year ago, a clinical trial with a candidate treatment has yielded ‘encouraging’ results, researchers announced Thursday…” (Thibault, 2/5).

The New York Times: Ebola Drug Aids Some in a Study in West Africa
“For the first time, a drug is showing promising signs of effectiveness in Ebola patients participating in a study. The medicine, which interferes with the virus’s ability to copy itself, seems to have halved mortality — to 15 percent, from 30 percent — in patients with low to moderate levels of Ebola in their blood, researchers have found. It had no effect in patients with more virus in their blood, who are more likely to die. … The drug is being tested in Guinea, one of the three West African countries most affected by the Ebola crisis…” (Fink, 2/4).

Reuters: France says results of trials in Guinea of anti-Ebola drug encouraging
“France said on Wednesday the first trials of a drug to treat Ebola in Guinea had been encouraging and appeared to accelerate the recovery process of patients, President Francois Hollande’s office said in a statement. Trials of an experimental Japanese drug — Avigan, or favipiravir — developed by Toyama Chemical, a subsidiary of Japan’s Fujifilm, began at a treatment center in Guinea in mid-December…” (Irish, 2/4).

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