In a significant step forward in the fight against Marburg virus, research from the University of Texas Medical Branch’s Galveston National Laboratory, in collaboration with Gilead Sciences and the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, has shown the effectiveness of a new oral antiviral drug, obeldesivir. As per the findings published in Nature Medicine, the drug was tested on non-human primates and was able to successfully prevent Marburg disease, which is a timely discovery given the recent outbreaks of the virus in parts of Africa, UTMB News reports.
The study has been able to quickly show that treatment with obeldesivir has been associated with an 80 percent survival rate when given post exposure to the lethal Marburg virus. This represents a potentially groundbreaking post-exposure prophylaxis (PEP) or treatment option for a disease that, until now, had no approved therapies. Marburg virus leads to a hemorrhagic fever with high fatality rates, and the recent outbreak in Rwanda, which lasted from September to December of 2024, caused 66 illnesses and 15 deaths.
Differentiating itself from other treatment options that require intravenous administration, obeldesivir can be taken orally, which simplifies the delivery process significantly. This ease of administration becomes critically important in outbreak scenarios, enabling quicker interventions and potentially saving more lives. The threat is most poignant for healthcare workers, who are at serious risk due to the human-to-human transmission vectors of the virus.
As Dr. Thomas Geisbert, a professor of Microbiology and Immunology at UTMB and coauthor of the study, put it, "The convenience of taking a pill rather than going to the clinic for an i.v. infusion should accelerate the PEP of contacts and contacts of contacts, critical in breaking the chain of virus transmission during outbreaks," in a statement obtained by UTMB News. The Galveston National Laboratory, considered highly important in researching infectious diseases, worked alongside several UTMB scientists and contributors from Gilead Sciences on this pivotal study.
Aside from Geisbert, the team included notable authors such as Robert W. Cross, Courtney Woolsey, and a group from Gilead Sciences, whose collaborative efforts have now placed an innovative antiviral solution on the map, potentially altering the course of how Marburg virus outbreaks will be handled in the future.
