Geneva: The World Health Organisation (WHO) has said that scientific evidence shows only a handful of drugs may eventually be effective against Ebola, stressing that none of them, as of yet, has received the organisation's endorsement.
The available treatments that may look promising are still insufficient, said WHO official Martin Friede at a press conference Friday.
The official pointed out that the WHO's scientific and technical committee convened this week in Geneva to discuss experimental Ebola antivirals.
The meeting was attended by some of the most prominent Ebola specialists, experts in clinical experimentation, pharmacists, sociologists, public health officials, regulators and representatives from the three countries that have been the most affected by the epidemic (Guinea Conakry, Liberia and Sierra Leone).
Some 120 therapy regimes and eight trials were proposed during the meeting, said Friede.
He made it clear that virtually all of these proposals failed to successfully combat the viral infection, and that the scientific evidence to prove that such drugs are safe or effective is still lacking.
The WHO official declined to specify which clinical trials have been prioritised so far, and limited his remarks to the most promising pharmaceutical products available, even though lingering doubts remain about their reliability: favipiravir, brincidofivir, toremifine and interferons.
