Health workers in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo are treating patients with supportive care while researchers race to test experimental drugs against the Bundibugyo virus outbreak. At least 695 people have been infected and 138 have died as the virus spreads through conflict zones with limited infrastructure.

The World Health Organization has prioritized four treatments for immediate clinical trials, including monoclonal antibodies MBP-134 and maftivimab, plus antivirals remdesivir and obeldesivir. Scientists previously deprioritized Bundibugyo research because only two small outbreaks occurred before this surge. Limited funding forced researchers to focus on more common Ebola virus strains instead.

Dr. Amanda Rojek from Oxford is pioneering a streamlined trial design that could accelerate results across multiple outbreaks. Dr. Salim Abdool Karim noted that remdesivir is affordable and generics are widely available, but infrastructure challenges persist in the active conflict zone. Charité Hospital in Berlin recently treated an infected American physician with MBP-134 and remdesivir.

Unitaid is scrambling to secure funding for early clinical testing, highlighting a critical gap in pandemic preparedness. With only a handful of candidates in the pipeline, failure of current treatments would leave no backup options. Post-exposure prophylaxis trials using obeldesivir could provide preventive protection for contacts, potentially containing future spread.