Favipiravir, Experimental Ebola Drug, Seems To Prove Effective In Those With Low Virus Levels

An experimental antiviral drug shows some early, encouraging signs of effectiveness in its first human test against Ebola in West Africa, but only if patients get it when their symptoms first appear.

A study of the drug, favipiravir (fav-ih-PEER’-ah-veer), is still in early stages in West Africa, and too few people have been treated to really know whether the drug helps. Other factors, like better health care, may be making a difference, and there was no comparison group of patients who got no treatment or a different drug.

Marilynn Marchione can be followed at http://twitter.com/MMarchioneAP .

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