Two Ebola drugs boost survival rates, according to early trial data

Enlarge / BUTEMBO, CONGO - JULY 27: A healthcare member inoculates a man for Ebola to take precautions against the disease in Butembo, Democratic Republic of the Congo. (credit: Getty | Anadolu Agency)

For the first time, preliminary clinical-trial results suggest that two experimental Ebola drugs can lower the death toll of the deadly virus, health officials announced Monday.

Two other experimental drugs used in the trial were less effective and will be abandoned.

The data comes from the PALM trial, which is short for the Swahili phrase Pamoja Tulinde Maisha, meaning Together Save Lives. The trial began in late 2018 amid the Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo, which is still ongoing and is now the second-largest outbreak on record. Ebola responders in the DRC aimed to enroll 725 patients, but they only used data from 499 for the preliminary analysis of the results.

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