Few scientists, including one of Indian-origin, revealed that they have found new potential drug candidate for Ebola that has successfully treated 90 percent of mice which was exposed to the deadly virus.
According to the researchers, Ebola has infected more than 25,000 people since December 2013, and has taken lives of more than 10,000 people. Nevertheless, the US Food and Drug Administration (USFDA) has yet to approve any beneficial drugs or vaccines against the virus.
While some of the researchers have developed vaccines to prevent Ebola infections, others have focused to treat the disease. They are also investigating numerous compounds, including existent of malaria and flu drugs.
Ms Rekha G Panchal, US Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases (USAMRIID) and her colleagues have been looking into the possibilities to treat the disease by studying diazachrysenes, a class of small molecules.
These kind of molecules have been found in laboratory tests to be non-toxic and effective against Botulinum Neurotoxin, the most potent bacterial toxin. They even wanted to screen this compound family for possible anti-Ebola drug candidates.
The researchers have now found the way to narrow down their search to handle diazachrysenes. In their recent study, they have found 70-90 percent of the mice that has received one of three experimental compounds that has survived infection and not shown any clear side effects. The finding was published in ‘ACS Infectious Diseases Journal'.
