Over fifty new potential drugs against Ebola

Researchers have identified 53 existing drugs that could prevent the entry of Ebola virus into human cells. To achieve this result, they screened 2816 drugs that are already approved by the Food and Drug Administration in the US.

These drugs are already used as antibiotics, antihistamines (against allergies), antipsychotics or against cancer. They now need to be thoroughly tested in animal models to confirm their effectiveness.

Original research paper published in Emerging Microbes and Infections on December 17, 2014.

Names and affiliations of selected authors

Aaron Schimmer, Princess Margaret Cancer Centre, University Health Network, Toronto, Ontario

Wei Zheng, National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences, USA

Adolfo Garcia-Sastre, Mount Sinai School of Medicine, USA