The Department of Health and Human Services said doses of Mapp Biopharmaceutical’s MPB134 antibody are being transferred for clinical testing against the Bundibugyo ebolavirus outbreak in central Africa.
By yourNEWS Media Newsroom
The United States is providing doses of an experimental Ebola treatment for clinical testing in Africa as health officials confront a growing outbreak of the Bundibugyo ebolavirus in Congo.
The Department of Health and Human Services said June 23 that doses of MPB134, an experimental antibody developed by California-based Mapp Biopharmaceutical, are being transferred to the University of Oxford for a randomized clinical trial in the outbreak region.
An HHS spokesperson told The Epoch Times by email that the trial will evaluate the antibody’s safety and potential effectiveness against Bundibugyo ebolavirus.
“HHS is working with global partners to help contain the outbreak, protect Americans, and strengthen global health security,” the spokesperson said.
MPB134 is designed to target multiple Ebola virus strains. The antibody has shown effectiveness in animal testing against the Bundibugyo virus, the strain identified as the cause of the current outbreak centered in Congo.
Mapp Biopharmaceutical did not respond to a request for comment by the time of publication.
HHS said data from the clinical trial could eventually support approval of the drug by U.S. regulators, including the Food and Drug Administration.
There are currently no approved vaccines or treatments for the Bundibugyo virus. Patients typically receive supportive care, meaning treatment focused on managing symptoms and helping the body recover.
Public Citizen and other organizations had urged the United States earlier in June to share doses of the antibody with Congo, Uganda and humanitarian groups. Those groups also called for the treatment to be tested through emergency clinical trials.
World Health Organization experts in May recommended prioritizing antibodies developed by Mapp Biopharmaceutical, the human monoclonal antibody Maftivimab and an antiviral from Gilead Sciences for post-exposure prophylaxis in clinical trials.
Trials of vaccine candidates have also been planned.
The treatment transfer comes as Congolese officials report 1,048 confirmed cases and 267 deaths in the outbreak. Another 112 people have recovered.
Uganda has confirmed 19 cases and two deaths, though no new cases have been reported there for several weeks.
World Health Organization officials said Tuesday that the outbreak’s early case count is the highest recorded during the first month of any Ebola outbreak in Africa.
“It took 78 days to reach 250 deaths during the 2014 and 2016 West Africa outbreak. In the previous outbreak, 2018 to 19, it took 130 days, but for this outbreak, it only took 37 days,” Abdirahman Mahamud, the WHO’s director for health emergency alert and response operations, said during a briefing in Geneva.
The current outbreak is the third-largest Ebola outbreak on record. The largest occurred in West Africa from 2014 to 2016 and killed 11,325 people. The second-largest began in 2018 in Congo and Uganda and left about 2,300 people dead.
Both of those larger outbreaks were caused by the Zaire virus, a different type of ebolavirus than the Bundibugyo strain now spreading in central Africa.
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