Four Ebola drugs was administered to patients in the Democratic Republic of Congo where there is a major outbreak of the virus, but two showed that 90% of infected people can survive if treated early.

The therapies that have improved survival rates are REGN-EB3, a cocktail of three monoclonal Ebola antibodies made by Regeneron Pharmaceuticals (REGN), and mAb114, a single monoclonal antibody developed by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, part of the National Institutes of Health.

Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of NIAID said “REGN-EB3 and mAb114 are the first drugs that, in a scientifically sound study, have clearly shown a significant diminution in mortality for people with Ebola virus disease. It means that we do have now what looks like treatments for a disease which not too long ago we really had no therapeutic approach at all. We feel that with agents such as these … that we may be able to improve the survival of people with Ebola and … might even make people more enthusiastic about coming for care. Because when you have something to offer an individual, it makes it much more likely that you might get to them early. And the earlier the better, as in any disease”.