Synthetic nucleotides injected into monkeys can block the replication of Ebola and Marburg viruses, suggesting it eventually may be possible to protect humans against these deadly bioterrorism agents, researchers said Sunday.
The monkeys get very sick, but most of them survive. The agents, called morpholino oligomers, are the first drugs approved by the Food and Drug Administration to go into clinical trials against the viruses — although those trials will, at least initially, be conducted in primates, not humans.
The results are “a potentially important proof of concept but still a long way from a product that can be used with confidence against human infections,” said virologist Alan L. Schmaljohn of the University of Maryland School of Medicine, who was not involved in the research.
Schmaljohn cautioned that the drugs were given within an hour after infection and that they could be much less effective later in the course of the disease or against a more aggressive strain of the viruses.
Via: chicagotribune.com