An international consortium says it will test an antiviral drug from Durham-based Chimerix (Nasdaq: CMRX) on patients with Ebola in Africa.
Ebola has now killed more than 5,000 people in the deadliest outbreak of the disease, according to the World Health Organization.
The Wellcome Trust is providing the funding.
A “definitive agreement” for supplying the drug is still being negotiated with the University of Oxford, which is leading the trial.
The drug, Brincidofovir, has been administered to at least two Ebola patients in the U.S. on an experimental basis with approval from the FDA.
The FDA also recently approved a Phase 2 clinical trial on patients with Ebola for the as-yet unapproved drug.
Chimerix recently raised more than $121 million in a stock offering to fund continuing development of its antiviral technology and drug candidates.
International Severe Acute Respiratory and Emerging Infection Consortium (ISARIC),Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) and the World Health Organization are involved in the tests.
“During what is perhaps the greatest acute public health crisis of our lifetimes, we want to recognize the profound sense of urgency and myriad scientific, medical, and clinical development issues being addressed together with multiple federal and international partners. We look forward to finalizing the trial arrangements with ISARIC as soon as possible to allow a better understanding of the potential benefit that brincidofovir could have in this Ebola Virus Disease outbreak,” said Michelle Berrey, CEO of Chimerix, in a statement.
Drug giant GlaxoSmithKline (NYSE: GSK) also is scheduled to test an Ebola vaccine in January.
