Experimental Drug Provided to Dallas Ebola Patient

[cali]

A North Carolina drugmaker is providing its experimental antiviral drug to a Dallas patient being treated for Ebola, an emergency step authorized by the Food and Drug Administration.

Officials at Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital said Monday that their patient, Thomas Eric Duncan, is in stable condition and being treated with brincidofovir, an oral medicine developed by Chimerix Inc.

The Durham, North Carolina-based drugmaker said earlier that physicians sought FDA permission to use the company's drug, which is in late-stage testing for several other types of viruses.

The FDA grants emergency access to unapproved drugs on a case-by-case basis, usually when a patient faces a life-threatening condition for which there are no alternatives. The agency has not approved any drugs or vaccines to safely and effectively treat Ebola.

Duncan was diagnosed with Ebola in Dallas last Tuesday after recently arriving from Liberia.

Brincidofovir is an antiviral drug being tested against several common viruses, including one that infects patients undergoing bone marrow transplants. Chimerix is also developing the drug as a treatment against smallpox. Laboratory tests suggested it may also work against Ebola.

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http://abcnews.go.com/Health/wireStory/drugmaker-experimental-drug-ebola-25997813

[JimDandy]

1. An oral drug at the stage in Ebola

where he is likely sloughing off the inside of his gut into his diarrheal feces?