Chimerix, a Durham-based biopharmaceutical company, announced Friday that it no longer is participating in clinical studies of brincidofovir to treat Ebola, citing the decrease in the number of new cases of confirmed Ebola in Liberia.
Brincidofovir, has been administered to at least two Ebola patients in the U.S. on an experimental basis with approval from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.
The FDA also had approved a Phase 2 clinical trial on patients with Ebola for the as-yet-unapproved drug.
The decision to drop out of trials, including one sponsored by the U.K.’s University of Oxford that began in January, comes after discussions with the FDA, Chimerix said in a statement
The decision to cease further study of brincidofovir in Ebola patients does not affect the company’s continued focus on advancing brincidofovir in studies of cytomegalovirus prevention in recipients of allogeneic hematopoietic transplant and for the treatment of adenovirus infection in immunocompromised patients, Chimerix President and Chief Executive Michelle Berrey said.
“We were honored to be able to work with the researchers at University of Oxford … to initiate the first clinical trial of an investigational agent during an outbreak. The progress in controlling the Ebola outbreak in Liberia is to be commended,” Berrey said.
GlaxoSmithKline continues to test its own Ebola drug in Africa, and Durham-based BioCryst is trying to develop another treatment for the disease.
