By Precious Mark
The World Health Organization (WHO) has launched patient enrollment in a major international scientific trial in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) to identify the first effective treatments for Ebola disease caused by the Bundibugyo virus.
In a news release issued on Thursday from Geneva, Oxford, and Ituri, the global health body announced that the PARTNERS clinical trial will assess whether two antiviral therapies, a monoclonal antibody called MBP134 and remdesivir can improve survival among diagnosed patients.
The randomized, controlled trial will evaluate the two therapies individually as well as in combination.
The international effort comes as the Democratic Republic of the Congo battles a severe outbreak, with over 1,400 people diagnosed, nearly 210 recoveries, and nearly 440 deaths recorded.
While therapeutics exist for other strains of Ebola, none are currently approved for Bundibugyo virus disease, leaving healthcare workers without specific medical tools to combat the virus.
“Even without approved therapeutics, people are recovering from this disease, but of course, we could save many more lives with safe and effective therapeutics in our toolkit,” said Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, WHO Director-General.
He added that the trial offers real hope for delivering concrete results to the communities at the heart of the outbreak.
The platform trial is designed to operate seamlessly across multiple outbreaks and allow additional treatments to be added as they become available.
It is being coordinated by the Institut National pour la Recherche Biomédicale (INRB) in the DRC, the Institute of Tropical Medicine in Belgium, and the University of Oxford in the United Kingdom, alongside international clinical and humanitarian partners like ALIMA and Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF), with support from Africa CDC.
“One of the key lessons from recent outbreaks is that research needs to happen alongside the response, not after it,” said Professor Amanda Rojek, PARTNERS Trial Operations Lead at the University of Oxford.
She emphasized that evaluating potential treatments during the outbreak will generate vital evidence to inform patient care in months rather than years.
Professor Jean-Jacques Muyembe-Tamfum, Director-General of the INRB, noted that integrating the trial into clinical care gives patients access to promising investigational treatments while building the necessary scientific evidence for future outbreaks.
The trial is enrolling patients of all ages, who will receive close support and follow-up for at least 28 days alongside early standard supportive care, including fluids, oxygen, and pain control.
Dr. Samuel Roger Kamba, Minister of Health of the DRC, praised the launch, stating that the findings could contribute to identifying more effective therapeutic options, saving lives during the current outbreak while strengthening global preparedness for future epidemics.