Additional support for research project Ebola Tx

The aim of the research project is to determine whether a treatment strategy with full blood and plasma of recovered Ebola patients is effective, safe and feasible to reduce the lethality among Ebola patients in the current epidemic in West Africa.
The research takes place in three successive phases; i) setting up standardized supportive medical care in the first phase, including intravenous rehydration and shock management for all patients; (ii) evaluation of whole blood; iii) evaluation of plasma.
Mortality on day 14 is used to determine efficacy. Survival of patients treated with 'full blood + supportive care' or 'plasma + supportive care' will be compared with survival if 'only supportive care' is administered, through a non-randomized open-label study design. A 20% reduction in lethality will be evidence of clinical effectiveness.
The Ebola Tx consortium received € 2.9 million funding from the European Commission to investigate the safety and effectiveness of treatment with blood and plasma - made from the blood of recovered Ebola patients. The additional subsidy from the Flemish Government supports partner Institute of Tropical Medicine with additional resources for the execution of its tasks within this project.