The Ebola patient being treated at Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital in Dallas has received an investigational antiviral drug called brincidofovir.
Thomas Eric Duncan, the first-ever patient to be diagnosed with Ebola in the United States, started receiving brincidofovir Saturday. He is in critical condition but is stable, according to Texas Health Resources.
Brincidofovir is being tested on animals for effectiveness against Ebola but has not been tested on humans, according to a USA TODAY report. Chimerix manufactures the drug and received special permission from the Food and Drug Administration to give brincidofovir to Ebola patients.
As Ebola has no known cure or existing vaccine, physicians have turned to various experimental drugs and treatments to treat patients during the largest Ebola outbreak in history. For example, ZMapp has demonstrated favorable results in some Ebola patients, but its manufacturer says the supplies of the drug have been exhausted. TKM-Ebola, a research drug, was used to treat Richard Sacra, MD, at The Nebraska Medical Center in Omaha. Some Ebola patients in the U.S. have also been treated with blood transfusions from others who survived the disease.
As of Sept. 30, Ebola has claimed 3,431 lives in West Africa, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.