- Clinical trials that aim to establish a standard treatment for the Bundibugyo strain of Ebola, which is driving the current outbreak, began on July 2.
- The trials are being conducted in Evangelical Medical Center in Bunia, the capital of Ituri province, the epicenter of the outbreak.
- Dr. Placide Mbala of the National Institute of Biomedical Research (INRB), is in charge of clinical trials, said the trials could take between three and six months, depending on how the disease evolves on the ground.
Clinical trials for treatments targeting the Bundibugyo strain of the Ebola virus disease began on July 2 in the Democratic Republic of Congo.
The goal is to develop a standard treatment for the strain, whose current outbreak has already resulted in nearly 1,500 confirmed cases and more than 450 deaths.
According to DRC health authorities, clinical trials targeting this rare strain of Ebola, which is affecting the eastern part of the DRC, were officially launched on July 2 at the Evangelical Medical Center in Bunia, the capital of Ituri province.
“During this epidemic, we also needed to conduct research to find specific drugs to treat this Ebola virus disease and to identify an effective molecule we can use to treat patients suffering from Ebola,” Dieudonné Mwamba Kazadi, director of the National Institute of Public Health and coordinator of the response to what is now the DRC’s 17th Ebola epidemic, told Mongabay.
According to the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC), three molecules will be studied in these clinical trials: Remdesivir and MBP134 for patients confirmed to be carrying the Bundibugyo virus, and Obeldsivir — a post-exposure prophylactic treatment to be administered to individuals exposed to the virus, including frontline response personnel.
Djodjo Mbusa, a resident of Bunia, welcomed news of the trials, saying they would contribute to the region’s health security.
“These trials are important for us, ordinary residents affected by this disease. Since they say it is for a potential treatment, I consider it good news, because it will break the chain of transmission,” he told Mongabay in Bunia.
The Bundibugyo outbreak in the eastern DCR was officially declared by authorities on May 15. Cases have also been reported in Uganda, which shares land and water borders with the DRC.
As of July 3, the epidemic had resulted in nearly 1,500 confirmed cases and more than 450 deaths, according to data from the DRC Ministry of Health. More than 200 people have also recovered following the care they received for their symptoms.
According to DRC health authorities, other confirmed and suspected cases remain at large following attacks on numerous Ebola treatment centers and on teams involved in the disease response.
“Attacking Ebola response teams and treatment centers is tantamount to condemning oneself to death. We strongly discourage such actions,” says Dr. Freddy Kibwana, head of the Ebola Treatment Center at the Evangelical Medical Center in Bunia.
Dr. Placide Mbala of the National Institute of Biomedical Research (INRB), who is in charge of the clinical trials, said the trials could take between three and six months, depending on how the disease evolves on the ground. He called for the removal of any ambiguity surrounding this trial, as reports of community resistance continue to emerge in certain areas.
“It was thanks to the clinical trials conducted between 2019 and 2020 in North Kivu that we were able to develop the vaccine against the Zaire strain of the Ebola virus,” he told Mongabay.
Most Ebola outbreaks to date have been caused by the Zaire ebolavirus, which also drove the 2014-2016 epidemic centered on West Africa. Experts say genetic differences between the strains of the Ebola virus directly impact how outbreaks are diagnosed, treated and controlled.
“We have known about the existence of this virus and its ability to cause outbreaks for almost two decades,” Boghuma Titanji, assistant professor of medicine at Emory University School of Medicine in the U.S., told Mongabay. “Yet market incentives did not exist for this to translate into vaccines and therapeutics.”
The current Ebola outbreak, the fastest in history to reach the 1,000-confirmed-case mark (within a month), according to the Africa CDC, is centered in Mongbwalu, Rwampara and Bunia, in Ituri province in northeastern DRC.
The World Health Organization estimates that the disease likely began spreading many weeks before it was detected by DRC health authorities and their partners.
But the WHO says it remains optimistic about the response to the outbreak. “More than 100 people have now recovered. With early detection and supportive care, many can survive this disease,” WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said at a media briefing on June 24.
Banner image: A worker disinfects himself at the Evangelical Medical Center in Bunia, DRC. Image by Prosper Heri Ngorora.
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Cite this article
Prosper Heri Ngorora (2026). Clinical trials begin in DRC epicenter of Bundibugyo strain of Ebola. Mongabay Conservation news. DOI: https://doi.org/10.66709/news-322836
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