Used in the treatment of influenza, Favipiravir interferes with the ability of the virus to replicate. The first results show that it reduces mortality in patients with Ebola.
First encouraging results in the fight against Ebola: the New York Times reports that, “For the first time, a drug shows promising signs of effectiveness in patients with Ebola”. The treatment, which interferes with the ability of the virus to replicate, appears to have “halved the risk of death in patients with a low or moderate viral load”.
According to the researchers, the risk of mortality would drop from 30% to 15% thanks to favipiravir. The drug was originally approved in Japan as a treatment for influenza last year. It is well tolerated, but does not appear to have any effect in patients with a high viral load.
“The encouraging results of the trial promoted by Inserm (French Institute for Health and Medical Research) and presented to the President of the Republic will very quickly be submitted to a scientific editor for publication and made public according to the usual communication methods. scientific ”, for its part indicated Inserm this morning.
The antiviral had been prescribed to 80 patients, adults and children, on December 17, 2014.
The Ebola epidemic has killed more than 8,900 people in West Africa in over a year, mainly in Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone. In early February, the World Health Organization (WHO) reported a sharp rise in the number of new cases after the disease declined in January.
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