The Pamoja Tulinde Maisha (“together save lives” in Swahili) trial began last November, in four towns stricken by the outbreak. It compared four potential treatments proposed by four different companies: ZMapp, remdesivir, mAb114, and REGN-EB3.
Preliminary data has convinced the trial’s monitoring board to stop the study and randomise all remaining patients to either mAb114 or REGN-EB3.1
Data from the first 499 patients showed that REGN-EB3 had met early stopping criteria, and mAb114 was not far behind. Among all patients who took the drugs, those treated with REGN-EB3 had a mortality rate of 29%, while those who got mAb-114 had a mortality rate of 34%.
Patients treated with ZMapp, the best known Ebola treatment candidate, which was used in the west African epidemic of 2014, had a 49% mortality rate. Those treated with the antiviral remdesivir had a 53% mortality rate.