U.S. and Liberian researchers have started a clinical trial to test the safety and effectiveness of Mapp Biopharmaceutical Inc.'s Ebola drug ZMapp, an experimental treatment that has already been tried in a handful of Ebola patients, including two U.S. missionaries.
The trial, a joint effort by the Liberian government and the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), will be conducted in Liberia and the United States among adults and children infected with Ebola, NIAID said on Friday.
Although ZMapp has been used on a humanitarian basis in nine infected patients, there was no way to tell whether the treatment offered a statistically significant benefit, Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the NIAID, said in a statement.