The first person diagnosed with Ebola on American soil has begun receiving an experimental medication, just as officials announced his condition was worsening.
The drug, called brincidofovir, was developed by Chimerix Inc., a biopharmaceutical company specializing in the development of novel, oral antivirals in areas of high unmet medical need. Brincidofovir is an oral antiviral drug being tested to fight more common viruses, including one that infects patients undergoing bone marrow transplants. Laboratory tests suggested it might also fight Ebola.
The patient, Liberian national Thomas Eric Duncan, remains in critical but stable condition, the Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital in Dallas said.
Questions had been raised about why Duncan had not received any experimental treatments after being admitted just over a week ago. At least three other Ebola patients in the U.S. have been given experimental drugs after contracting the virus in West Africa, where the disease has killed more than 3,400 people.
The patients included two at Emory University Hospital in Atlanta, Georgia, both of whom received the drug ZMapp, and one at Nebraska Medical Center in Omaha who received Tekmira Pharmaceutical’s TKM-Ebola. All three patients recovered, but it is scientifically impossible to say whether the drugs played a role in their recovery – that’s something that can only be determined through rigorous clinical trials.
But as ZMapp supplies have run out, health officials are looking to other drugs with promising clinical findings, hoping to replicate those findings in a real-life setting.
“We are hopeful that brincidofovir may offer a potential treatment for Ebola Virus Disease during this outbreak,” Dr. Michelle Berrey, president and chief executive of Chimerix, said in a Monday statement.
The experimental use is made possible by Emergency Investigational New Drug Applications granted by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.
Chimerix is a small biotechnology company based in North Carolina. The drug is an oral medication that’s meant to stop viruses from replicating. After the first reports of Ebola months ago, the company tested the drug, which can also be used against other viruses such as smallpox, and found positive results in early-stage trials. The company is working with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the National Institutes of Health to test it on animals, according to the company website.
Chimerix said brincidofovir, has been tested in more than 1,000 patients without raising safety concerns. “Chimerix has brincidofovir tablets available for immediate use in clinical trials,” the company said in a statement.