Recent Efforts and Achievements on the Development of Pharmaceuticals for Prevention and Treatment of Ebola Virus Diseases

The 2014 outbreak of Ebola virus disease (EVD) thatcaused more than 10,000 people’s deaths has accentuatedan urgent need to develop effective vaccine(s) to preventthe spread of this fatal virus, and effective drugs to improvesurvival rates among those infected with the virus. Todate three DNA vaccine candidates have been developedand are clinically evaluated for their effectiveness. A fewinvestigational drugs based on monoclonal antibodies(Mabs), SiRNA and antiviral small molecules are alsobeing explored and used in clinical trials to treat patientssuffering from the viral hemorrhagic disease. Althoughnone has been fully tested for safety or effectiveness,these experimental pharmaceutical products for thetreatment of EVD are being clinically screened. Preliminarydata indicated that combination of several Mabs gavebest therapeutic results while expression of subunitsurface antigen is the main approach that enables torapidly develop new vaccines at a lower cost and fewermanufacturing obstacles than traditional vaccines.