Monkeys infected with the Ebola virus were treated with a simple pill, a breakthrough that could pave the way for more convenient and affordable treatments in humans, according to a new U.S. study published Friday.
First identified in 1976 and believed to originate from bats, this often fatal disease is transmitted through bodily fluids, with main symptoms including fever, vomiting, bleeding and diarrhea.
In 2019, the WHO prequalified the Ervebo vaccine, which is not effective against all strains.
Two intravenous antibody treatments exist but remain expensive and difficult to administer, particularly in the poorest regions of the world.
All strains combined, the virus has caused more than 15,000 deaths in Africa since 1976.
There is currently no vaccine against Ebola-Sudan, a strain responsible for an outbreak in Uganda since late January.
"We really tried to find something more practical, easier to use, that could be used to help prevent, control and contain epidemics," Thomas Geisbert, a virologist at the University of Texas Medical Branch who led the new study published in the journal Science Advances, told AFP.
Thomas Geisbert and his colleagues tested the antiviral obeldesivir, the oral form of intravenous remdesivir, a drug used in particular against Covid-19.
The team infected two species of macaques with a high dose of Makona, a variant of Ebola-Zaire, one of the strains causing a major epidemic.
Obeldesivir cured 100% rhesus macaques, the species closest biologically to humans.
The drug also triggered an immune response, helping them develop antibodies.
Although the experiment was based on a relatively small number of monkeys, the study remains significant, Geisbert said, noting that the monkeys had been exposed to an extraordinarily high dose of the virus.
According to the researcher, one of the most interesting aspects of obeldesivir is the "extended spectrum" it offers compared to antibody-based treatments that only work against Ebola-Zaire.
US pharmaceutical manufacturer Gilead is currently testing obeldesivir for the Marburg virus, which belongs to the same family as Ebola.
But Thomas Geisbert warns against the drastic budget cuts planned by Donald Trump's government, pointing out that treatments and vaccines developed against Ebola and other viruses rely heavily on public funding.
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