The trial of two potential treatments for the Bundibugyo species of Ebola behind the deadly outbreak in the DR Congo began in the country on Thursday, the World Health Organization said.

There are no approved vaccines or treatments for the rare strain, which has been spreading in the north-eastern provinces of the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

There have been 1,406 confirmed cases and 438 confirmed deaths in the DRC, while 208 people have recovered from the virus, according to figures from the WHO.

"Today, the clinical trial of two therapeutics began, with the enrolment of the first patient," WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus told reporters.

The trial is evaluating the monoclonal antibody MBP134 and the antiviral drug remdesivir, alone and in combination.

"Patients who enrol in the trial will receive comprehensive supportive care and close follow up," Tedros insisted.

"We are also working to ensure they have access to the two drugs should they prove safe and efficacious in the trial."

The outbreak is heavily centred in the DRC's Ituri province.

Vasee Moorthy, who leads the WHO's research and development blueprint arm, said the trial would begin in one treatment facility in Ituri before gradually expanding to others in the province.

He said patients would be randomised into four groups: those who receive remdesivir; MBP134; neither; or both, to see if combination provides additional benefits.

The number of patients required would depend of how effective the therapeutics appear to be: the more effective they are, the fewer patients who would be needed, Moorthy said.

He said the trial would take months and could even run into next year, and might require more than 1,000 patients to produce definitive answers. (AFP)



Edited by Cecil Wong