Ebanga™: The most recent FDA-approved drug for treating Ebola

Abstract

Ebolavirus (EBOV) is a virulent pathogen that causes Ebola virus disease (EVD), which is a life-threatening human condition with a fatality rate of up to 90%. Since the first outbreak in Africa in 1976, several outbreaks and epidemics of EBOV have occurred across the globe. While EVD is recognized as a serious threat to human health and outbreaks occur almost every year, the treatment options for the disease are limited. In designing therapeutic strategies against EBOV infection, viral structural proteins, such as glycoprotein (GP), could be an excellent target for neutralizing the virus. According to the latest research, GP-specific antibodies are the most efficient post-exposure treatments for EVD. Ansuvimab-zykl, i.e., mAb114 (Ebanga™), is a recent FDA-approved human immunoglobulin monoclonal antibody targeting EBOV GP. This review provides a brief overview of the pharmacological effects and safety profile of ansuvimab in clinical trials and provides insights into the precise mechanism of this new drug for treating EVD.

Oral administration of obeldesivir protects nonhuman primates against Sudan ebolavirus

“…Substantial progress has been made in developing vaccines and treatments against EBOV (within species O. zairense), with two vaccines and two monoclonal antibody (mAb)-based treatments licensed for human use (10)(11)(12)(13).…”

“…Substantial progress has been made in developing vaccines and treatments against EBOV (within species O. zairense ), with two vaccines and two monoclonal antibody (mAb)–based treatments licensed for human use ( 10 – 13 ). However, there are still no medical countermeasures against Marburg virus (MARV) or other ebolaviruses such as Bundibugyo virus (BDBV), Sudan virus (SUDV), or Tai forest virus (TAFV) that are approved for human use.…”

Design and characterization of protective pan-ebolavirus and pan-filovirus bispecific antibodies

“…Monoclonal antibodies (mAbs) are a promising therapeutic modality for filoviruses and other viral pathogens [5][6][7][8][9][10][11]. MAbs are generally well-tolerated with few off-target effects, have long in vivo half-life, and-especially important for viral diseases-the capacity to recruit immune mediators and clear infected cells via their Fc region.…”

“…MAb therapies have been approved for treatment of EBOV, SARS-CoV2, and respiratory syncytial virus (RSV), and are under advanced development for other viral diseases. Inmazeb consists of a cocktail of three EBOV mAbs, and Ebanga is a single-component therapy [7,8]. Other advanced mAb filovirus therapies include the broad-spectrum two-component MBP134 cocktail, which has been demonstrated to protect non-human primates from lethal challenge by EBOV, BDBV, and SUDV, and MBP091, a MARV-and RAVV-specific monotherapy [12][13][14].…”

Computational and experimental identification of keystone interactions in Ebola virus matrix protein VP40 dimer formation

“…Since that time, sporadic outbreaks of EBOV have occurred, causing severe disease and often high fatality rates (Sivanandy et al, 2022 ). A vaccine for EBOV as well as monoclonal antibody therapies have been approved by the FDA in the last few years (Ollmann, 2020 ; Taki et al, 2023 ) but there is still a lack of small molecule therapies as well as treatments/vaccines for the five other known types of EBOV. Limited information is available on optimal sites for direct‐acting antivirals against EBOV proteins and mechanistic studies of EBOV protein function may elucidate optimal sites to target and dampen EBOV replication.…”