Will There Be a Cure for Ebola?

Annu Rev Pharmacol Toxicol. 2017 Jan 6:57:329-348. doi: 10.1146/annurev-pharmtox-010716-105055. Epub 2016 Dec 7.

Abstract

Despite the unprecedented Ebola virus outbreak response in West Africa, no Ebola medical countermeasures have been approved by the US Food and Drug Administration. However, multiple valuable lessons have been learned about the conduct of clinical research in a resource-poor, high risk-pathogen setting. Numerous therapeutics were explored or developed during the outbreak, including repurposed drugs, nucleoside and nucleotide analogues (BCX4430, brincidofovir, favipiravir, and GS-5734), nucleic acid-based drugs (TKM-Ebola and AVI-7537), and immunotherapeutics (convalescent plasma and ZMapp). We review Ebola therapeutics progress in the aftermath of the West Africa Ebola virus outbreak and attempt to offer a glimpse of a path forward.

Keywords: BCX4430; GS-5734; ZMapp; brincidofovir; convalescent plasma; favipiravir.

Publication types

  • Review

MeSH terms

  • Adenine / analogs & derivatives
  • Adenosine / analogs & derivatives
  • Adenosine Monophosphate / analogs & derivatives
  • Africa, Western / epidemiology
  • Alanine / analogs & derivatives
  • Alanine / pharmacology
  • Alanine / therapeutic use
  • Animals
  • Antiviral Agents / pharmacology
  • Antiviral Agents / therapeutic use*
  • Disease Outbreaks / prevention & control*
  • Ebolavirus / drug effects*
  • Ebolavirus / physiology
  • Hemorrhagic Fever, Ebola / diagnosis
  • Hemorrhagic Fever, Ebola / drug therapy*
  • Hemorrhagic Fever, Ebola / epidemiology
  • Humans
  • Purine Nucleosides / pharmacology
  • Purine Nucleosides / therapeutic use
  • Pyrrolidines
  • Ribonucleotides / pharmacology
  • Ribonucleotides / therapeutic use

Substances

  • Antiviral Agents
  • Purine Nucleosides
  • Pyrrolidines
  • Ribonucleotides
  • remdesivir
  • Adenosine Monophosphate
  • Adenine
  • Adenosine
  • Alanine
  • galidesivir