Sponsored by the World Health Organization (WHO), the PARTNERS (Platform Adaptive Randomised Trial for New and Repurposed Filovirus TreatmentS) trial will evaluate potential therapies for Bundibugyo virus disease, which is causing the current outbreak.
Unlike traditional outbreak trials, the innovation behind PARTNERS is that it has been designed before outbreaks occur, allowing research to begin quickly when it is needed most. As a platform trial, it can test several treatments for the same disease at the same time and adapt as new evidence emerges. Instead of creating a new clinical trial for every outbreak, the same system can be used to evaluate different treatments across multiple outbreaks and countries.
The products being evaluated initially are the monoclonal antibody MBP134, provided by Mapp Biopharmaceutical, and remdesivir, provided by Gilead Sciences. The trial will determine whether the investigational therapies, either alone or in combination, improve survival among people diagnosed with Bundibugyo virus disease.
Professor Amanda Rojek, PARTNERS International Principal Investigator and Associate Professor of Health Emergencies at Oxford's Pandemic Sciences Institute, said: "One of the key lessons from recent outbreaks is that research needs to happen alongside the response, not after it. Through PARTNERS, we're working with DRC and international experts to gather evidence that can improve patient care when and where it is needed most, while helping ensure that communities affected by outbreaks benefit directly from the knowledge gained."
Read the full story on the Nuffield Department of Medicine website.