A Pill for Ebola? New Drug Shows Up to 100% Survival in Monkeys

We may have just found an easy-to-swallow cure for one of the deadliest diseases out there. In research released this month, scientists report that a single dose of an experimental pill dramatically reduced the high fatality rate of Ebola infection, at least in nonhuman primates. Researchers at the University of Texas Medical Branch led the study, published Friday in the journal Science Advances. The treatment, an oral antiviral called obeldesivir, prevented up to 100% of deaths in monkeys given a high dose of the deadliest species of Ebola. These findings and others suggest that obeldesivir can become a highly effective measure against Ebola and similar infections that can quickly lead to massive bleeding and death, the researchers say. Ebola is caused by several related strains of viruses (formally called orthoebolaviruses). The most commonly seen and deadliest version of Ebola is caused by the Zaire ebolavirus (named after where it was first discovered), which can have a fatality ... Read full article.