Inmazeb: new hope for Zaire Ebola virus disease

Abstract

Ebola virus disease first appeared in 1976 in Zaire (now democratic republic of Congo). Since then virus outbreaks occurred periodically in African countries. The cases notified in March 2014 in west Africa was largest outbreak till now. In 2020 there is ongoing outbreak of Zaire Ebola virus in democratic republic of Congo. Ebola virus is single stranded RNA virus which causes viral hemorrhagic fever in humans presenting as high fever, chills, loss of appetite, myalgia, headache. Till now there was no specific treatment, symptomatic treatment methods including infusion of electrolyte and/or antibiotics were mainly used. In October 2020 FDA approved the first treatment for Zaire Ebola virus disease in adult and pediatric patients, including neonates born to a mother who is RT-PCR positive for Zaire ebolavirus infection. The treatment is called Inmazeb, combination of three recombinant human IgG1κ monoclonal antibodies (Atoltivimab, Maftivimab, and Odesivimab-ebgn) each targeting the Zaire ebolavirus glycoprotein.