Clinical Evaluation of Ebola Virus Disease Therapeutics

Guodong Liu; Gary Wong; Shuo Su; Yuhai Bi; Frank Plummer; George F Gao; Gary Kobinger; Xiangguo Qiu

doi:10.1016/j.molmed.2017.07.002

Clinical Evaluation of Ebola Virus Disease Therapeutics

Trends Mol Med. 2017 Sep;23(9):820-830. doi: 10.1016/j.molmed.2017.07.002. Epub 2017 Aug 17.

Authors

Guodong Liu¹, Gary Wong², Shuo Su³, Yuhai Bi⁴, Frank Plummer⁵, George F Gao⁴, Gary Kobinger⁶, Xiangguo Qiu⁷

Affiliations

¹ Special Pathogens Program, National Microbiology Laboratory, Public Health Agency of Canada, Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada; Department of Medical Microbiology and Infectious Diseases, University of Manitoba, Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada.
² Special Pathogens Program, National Microbiology Laboratory, Public Health Agency of Canada, Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada; Shenzhen Key Laboratory of Pathogen and Immunity, State Key Discipline of Infectious Disease, Shenzhen Third People's Hospital, Shenzhen, China; Department of Medical Microbiology and Infectious Diseases, University of Manitoba, Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada; CAS Key Laboratory of Pathogenic Microbiology and Immunology, Institute of Microbiology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China.
³ Jiangsu Engineering Laboratory of Animal Immunology, Institute of Immunology and College of Veterinary Medicine, Nanjing Agricultural University, Nanjing, China.
⁴ Shenzhen Key Laboratory of Pathogen and Immunity, State Key Discipline of Infectious Disease, Shenzhen Third People's Hospital, Shenzhen, China; CAS Key Laboratory of Pathogenic Microbiology and Immunology, Institute of Microbiology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China.
⁵ Department of Medical Microbiology and Infectious Diseases, University of Manitoba, Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada.
⁶ Department of Medical Microbiology and Infectious Diseases, University of Manitoba, Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada; Département de microbiologie-infectiologie et d'immunologie, Université Laval, Québec, Canada.
⁷ Special Pathogens Program, National Microbiology Laboratory, Public Health Agency of Canada, Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada; Department of Medical Microbiology and Infectious Diseases, University of Manitoba, Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada. Electronic address: Xiangguo.Qiu@phac-aspc.gc.ca.

Abstract

Ebola virus disease (EVD) was first described over 40 years ago, but no treatment has been approved for humans. The 2013-2016 EVD outbreak in West Africa has expedited the clinical evaluation of several candidate therapeutics that act through different mechanisms, but with mixed results. Nevertheless, these studies are important because the accumulation of clinical data and valuable experience in conducting efficacy trials under emergency circumstances will lead to better implementation of similar studies in the future. Here, we summarize the results of EVD clinical trials, focus on the discussion of factors that may have potentially impeded the effectiveness of existing candidate therapeutics, and highlight considerations that may help meet the challenges ahead in the quest to develop clinically approved drugs.

Keywords: Ebola virus; convalescent plasma; monoclonal antibody; small molecule inhibitor; therapeutics.

Publication types

Review
Research Support, N.I.H., Extramural
Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

Africa, Western
Animals
Antiviral Agents / therapeutic use*
Clinical Trials as Topic
Ebolavirus*
Evaluation Studies as Topic
Hemorrhagic Fever, Ebola / drug therapy*
Hemorrhagic Fever, Ebola / epidemiology
Humans

Substances

Antiviral Agents

Grants and funding

U19 AI109762/AI/NIAID NIH HHS/United States