The federal government has taken its first step toward supporting an experimental drug for treating Ebola.
The U.S. Department of Health & Human Services’ Office of the Assistant Secretary for Preparedness and Response committed to funding BioCryst Pharmaceuticals’ development and manufacturing of such a drug, according to a written statement issued by the agency March 31.
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The Office awarded approximately $12 million to the North Carolina–based drug company, but the size of the grant could grow to $35 million.
The drug, BCX4430, is a small-molecule drug that prevents the Ebola virus from reproducing in the body. BioCryst is currently using money from the National Institutes of Health to conduct phase I safety studies of the drug in healthy volunteers.
The drug’s effectiveness at treating both the Ebola and Marburg viruses in nonhuman primates indicates that “BCX4430 may be useful as a broad spectrum antiviral drug,” according to the statement.