In just five weeks, the number of Ebola treatment beds in the Democratic Republic of Congo has grown from 10 to more than 500. That dramatic scaling up sets the stage for something researchers have long awaited: clinical trials of two experimental treatments for the particularly deadly Bundibugyo strain of Ebola, which WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus announced Wednesday would begin in the country next week.
The outbreak, declared in May, has now confirmed 1,048 cases including 277 deaths—and health experts believe the true toll is significantly higher. What makes this crisis uniquely challenging is that the Bundibugyo species of Ebola has no approved vaccines or treatments. That absence has made contact tracing especially difficult, Tedros noted, since people identified as contacts face quarantine without the incentive of a preventive vaccine, a stark choice for daily laborers who depend on every day's wages.
But the trial launching next week at a hospital in northeastern Ituri Province represents a new chapter. The two therapeutics being tested are MBP134, a monoclonal antibody, and remdesivir, an antiviral drug. Between 500 and 1,000 participants are expected to enroll, with the number adjusted based on how effective the treatments prove to be. The trial will evaluate each drug alone and in combination to determine whether they can reduce mortality from the virus.
The WHO is conducting the research alongside a consortium including DR Congo's National Institute for Biomedical Research, the medical charity ALIMA, and Oxford University. The United States and Gilead Sciences have donated the doses needed to proceed. "Preparations are now complete," Tedros said Wednesday. The team has also dramatically expanded testing capacity from 30 samples per day to more than 3,000.
Tedros stressed that communities in affected areas are being engaged throughout the process. "We are working closely with affected communities to inform and involve them in the trial," he said. "We are also working to ensure the communities have access to the therapeutics, should they prove safe and efficacious."
The road ahead remains difficult. Contact tracing currently reaches just over 70 percent of known contacts, short of the 95 percent target. Treatment center capacity still lags, and funding for the response effort is behind schedule. The WHO and African Union have jointly launched a continental preparedness plan seeking $518 million.
Still, for researchers who have watched the Bundibugyo strain claim lives with no targeted treatment available, next week's trials mark a meaningful turning point—one that could, if successful, save lives not only in this outbreak but in future ones as well.