Declining Ebola cases pose serious challenge to clinical studies, says analyst

The steady decline in new Ebola cases presents a formidable challenge to current and future clinical trials of investigational treatments for the disease, as it will be more difficult to recruit study participants and demonstrate efficacy, says an analyst.

According to Daian Cheng, research and consulting firm GlobalData’s analyst covering infectious diseases, Ebola’s dwindling incidence rate is having a direct impact on patient enrollment for clinical trials of therapeutic agents, as evidenced by two studies for antiviral drugs favipiravir and brincidofovir.

Dr Cheng says: “On January 30, Chimerix [Nasdaq: CMRX] announced the decision to cease clinical investigations of its experimental Ebola drug, brincidofovir, as only a handful of participants were able to be recruited for a single-armed clinical trial in Liberia. The disease’s decreasing incidence meant the study was unlikely to reach a convincing conclusion regarding the drug’s efficacy.”