New Ebola Outbreak May Open Door to Finding Drugs
- Challenges loom for evaluating medications in Central Africa
- Hundreds of vials from Gilead, Regeneron, others en route
Health workers operate within an Ebola safety zone at a health center in Lyonda, Democratic Republic of Congo, on June 1.
Photographer: Junior D. Kannah/AFP via Getty Images
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As another outbreak of Ebola claims lives in central Africa, researchers are seeing within it a rare ray of hope: a chance to find a cure.
For the first time, five experimental medicines are poised to undergo a real-life clinical trial against the virus at makeshift treatment centers in remote areas of the Democratic Republic of Congo, where most of the 53 new cases originated. The country’s health ministry cleared all the treatments for use as of Monday.