(Bloomberg) -- Two experimental medicines for Marburg disease are set to tested in Rwanda, which is battling an outbreak of the deadly Ebola-like infection.
A vaccine from the Sabin Vaccine Institute and an experimental therapy from privately held biotech Mapp Biopharmaceutical Inc are being made available for use on the ground in Rwanda, according to a spokesperson from the US Administration for Strategic Preparedness and Response. The drugs will be used under clinical trial conditions approved by the Rwandan regulator, the spokesperson said.
Sabin and Mapp received more than $235 million and $129 million, respectively, in funding from ASPR’s medical countermeasures body US Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority. The drugs are expected to arrive in Rwanda on Saturday.
Gilead Sciences Inc is also donating 5,000 doses of remdesivir to Rwanda, the country’s health minister said on Thursday.
There are currently no approved vaccines or treatments for Marburg which can have a fatality rate of up to 88%.
Marburg spreads through direct contact with blood or other bodily fluids from infected people. Illness begins abruptly after an incubation period, with high fever, severe headache, vomiting and diarrhea as some of the symptoms. Fatal cases usually involve severe bleeding.
The Marburg outbreak, Rwanda’s first, has struck 36 people, with 11 deaths. Health workers have identified hundreds of contacts of infected people since the spread started in an intensive care unit in Kigali, the capital.
Non-profit Sabin’s vaccine for Marburg is in mid-stage trials in Uganda and Kenya. An early stage trial showed the vaccine was safe and induced an immune response. Mapp Biopharmaceutical’s experimental monoclonal antibody drug is in early stage trials.
Other companies and organizations including Oxford University and the International AIDS Vaccine Initiative have products in development for Marburg.
IAVI currently doesn’t have doses of its vaccine available for testing in humans but it is set to start manufacturing this in the coming week, it said in emailed comments. These doses won’t be immediately available for the Rwanda outbreak. Johnson & Johnson also previously had a Marburg vaccine in development but that program was stopped.
The World Health Organization is working with the Rwandan government to provide information and access to candidate vaccines and drugs for a “possible clinical trial” it said in a statement Tuesday. “The Ministry of Health has identified two experienced principal investigators to lead the trials,” it said.
The WHO and its partners are in contact with all developers of candidate Marburg virus vaccines and drugs to assess the availability of doses and their suitability for testing during the outbreak, it said in emailed comments.
--With assistance from Riley Griffin and Ondiro Oganga.
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