United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved a human monoclonal antibody called Ebanga for the treatment of the Ebolavirus infection.
Ebanga blocks the binding of the virus to the cell receptor, stopping its entry into the cell.
The treatment specifically counteracts the Zaire strain of the virus which is one of the four fatal strains causing human infection.
Ebanga was first tested in a clinical trial during an outbreak of Ebola in the Democratic Republic of Congo between 2018 and 2019.
The PALM trial was led by the U.S. National Institutes of Health and the DRC’s Institut National de Recherche Biomédicale, with support from several other international agencies.
The most common symptoms experienced while receiving Ebanga, according to the FDA were listed to be: fever, fast heart rate, diarrhea, vomiting, hypotension (low blood pressure), fast breathing, and chills; however, these are also common symptoms of Ebolavirus infection. Hypersensitivity, including infusion-related events, can occur in patients taking Ebanga, and treatment should be discontinued in the event of a hypersensitivity reaction.
The FDA says patients who receive Ebanga should avoid the concurrent administration of a live virus vaccine against Ebolavirus. There is the potential for Ebanga to inhibit replication of a live vaccine virus and possibly reduce the efficacy of the vaccine.
The FDA granted production approval to Ridgeback Biotherapeutics.
Recall that the Ebola Virus disease broke out in 2014, rampaging most African countries at the time, while it also spread to the rest of the world.
In recent time, the disease has been found in Congo DRC again where less severe outbreaks have occurred.