The road to effective and accessible antibody therapies against Ebola virus
Hugues Fausther‐Bovendo, Gary Kobinger
Abstract
Ebola virus (EBOV) outbreaks can claim thousands of lives, cripple healthcare systems and local economies. Effective vaccines and treatments against EBOV are therefore needed to limit the impact of this deadly disease. In 2019, a hallmark clinical trial demonstrated the efficacy of monoclonal antibody (mAb) against EBOV. Despite, this recent success, survival of individuals with high viremia remains low. Effective immunotherapies against other Ebolavirus species are still under pre-clinical development. More importantly, the cost of immunotherapies is prohibitive to most individual and affected countries. Novel manufacturing and administration strategies of mAb protein or genetic information could substantially reduce the cost of immunotherapies; hence making them valuable tools against EBOV and other infectious agents.