Approved Treatments
Treatment for Ebola virus disease combines foundational supportive care with FDA-approved monoclonal antibody therapies. Outcomes have improved dramatically since the pre-treatment era — for the species the antibodies were built against.
Supportive Treatment (All Species)
Supportive care remains the foundation of Ebola treatment and significantly improves survival:
- Intravenous fluids, often in large volumes, to correct dehydration from vomiting and diarrhea
- Electrolyte replacement
- Blood pressure maintenance, with vasopressors if needed
- Treatment of secondary bacterial infections and pre-existing conditions
- Oxygen when needed
- Pain control and nutritional support
That list is CDC's (clinical guidance, May 27, 2026). WHO's fact sheet calls this "optimized supportive care" and states plainly that "seeking early care can be lifesaving." The evidence: among 27 Ebola patients treated in US and European hospitals in 2014–15 with this kind of care, 81.5% survived, against about 70% mortality among patients with known outcomes in West Africa at the time (Uyeki et al., NEJM 2016; WHO Ebola Response Team, NEJM 2014).
Inmazeb (REGN-EB3: atoltivimab, maftivimab, odesivimab)
Approved: FDA approval October 2020 — the first FDA-approved treatment for Ebola. The current label (December 2025) covers "infection caused by Orthoebolavirus zairense in adult and pediatric patients, including neonates born to a mother who is RT-PCR positive."
How it works: A cocktail of three monoclonal antibodies that bind the Ebola virus glycoprotein and prevent cell entry. Dose: 50 mg/kg of each antibody, as a single intravenous infusion (FDA label).
Evidence: PALM trial — 28-day death in 52 of 155 patients (33.5%) versus 79 of 154 (51.3%) in the concurrent ZMapp subgroup, P=0.002 (Mulangu et al., NEJM 2019).
⚠️ FDA label, Limitation of Use: "The efficacy of INMAZEB has not been established for other species of the Orthoebolavirus and Orthomarburgvirus genera."
Ebanga (ansuvimab-zykl / mAb114)
Approved: FDA approval December 2020. The current label (August 2026) has the same indication as Inmazeb: Orthoebolavirus zairense, adults and children including neonates. The antibody was isolated from a survivor of the 1995 Kikwit outbreak by NIAID's Vaccine Research Center with DRC's INRB.
How it works: A single monoclonal antibody against the receptor-binding region of the Ebola virus glycoprotein. Dose: 50 mg/kg as a single intravenous infusion over 60 minutes (FDA label).
Evidence: PALM trial — 28-day death in 61 of 174 patients (35.1%) versus 84 of 169 (49.7%) with ZMapp, P=0.007 (Mulangu et al., NEJM 2019).
⚠️ FDA label, Limitation of Use: "The efficacy of EBANGA has not been established for other species of the Orthoebolavirus and Orthomarburgvirus genera."
The PALM Trial, Arm by Arm
Every "reduces mortality" claim about Ebola treatment traces to one trial run inside the 2018–20 DRC outbreak. Here are its actual numbers.
PALM (NCT03719586) enrolled 681 patients of any age with PCR-confirmed Ebola virus infection between November 20, 2018 and August 9, 2019, at treatment units in North Kivu and Ituri — the same provinces at the centre of the 2026 outbreak. All patients received optimised standard care and were randomised 1:1:1:1 to ZMapp (the control), remdesivir, mAb114 or REGN-EB3. The primary endpoint was death at 28 days. Because REGN-EB3 was added under a later protocol version, its comparison is against the ZMapp patients enrolled concurrently (the "ZMapp subgroup"), which is why the paper reports two different ZMapp figures.
| Arm | Deaths / patients | 28-day mortality | Comparison |
|---|---|---|---|
| REGN-EB3 (now Inmazeb) | 52 / 155 | 33.5% | vs. ZMapp subgroup 79/154 (51.3%), P=0.002 |
| mAb114 (now Ebanga) | 61 / 174 | 35.1% | vs. ZMapp 84/169 (49.7%), P=0.007 |
| ZMapp (control) | 84 / 169 | 49.7% | Triple-antibody cocktail from the 2014–15 era; the trial's reference arm |
| Remdesivir | Not reported in abstract | — | Stopped at the interim analysis along with ZMapp because both were inferior to the two winning arms |
Three things the headline numbers hide. First, the control was ZMapp, not "no treatment" — so the trial shows the new antibodies beat an older antibody, and the absolute benefit over supportive care alone is larger than the 15-to-18-point gap in the table but was not measured. Second, the trial did not compare Inmazeb with Ebanga head-to-head; the two winners are "comparable," not ranked. Third, remdesivir failed against Ebola (Zaire) virus in this trial — which matters because remdesivir is the drug being given off-label for Bundibugyo virus in 2026 (below).
Treating Bundibugyo Virus in 2026: What Is Actually Being Done
CDC's page says the options "remain under investigation and currently are backed primarily by preclinical evidence." The primary sources say what those investigations are.
The PARTNERS Trial
WHO is sponsoring a randomised therapeutics trial in the outbreak, known as PARTNERS, which began enrolling on July 2, 2026. WHO's Disease Outbreak News tracks its growth: three treatment facilities in Ituri and more than 100 confirmed patients enrolled by August 14; more than 250 by August 28; five facilities and more than 300 patients by September 10, 2026 (DON 615–617). WHO has not published which candidate products are in the trial in these reports, and no interim result has been released. The trial does not appear on ClinicalTrials.gov under a Bundibugyo search (checked September 14, 2026); WHO's fact sheet notes a "CORE protocol" for clinical trials in outbreaks of the non-Zaire species.
Remdesivir, Off-Label — the Uganda Series
The first clinical data on any drug against Bundibugyo virus come from Uganda. CDC's MMWR report of September 10, 2026 (Mutegeki et al.) describes all 21 Ugandan cases: 18 were admitted to the Mulago Hospital treatment unit and all 18 received remdesivir under a compassionate-use protocol, the antiviral approved for COVID-19 and used off-label here because no specific antiviral exists. Two of the 20 confirmed patients died (10%), both recognised as Ebola only near or after death; one patient developed a severe rash and liver-kidney toxicity, resolved after the drug was stopped. The authors are careful: they attribute the low fatality rate first to patients seeking care promptly, and say the contrast with DRC's 48% "suggests that clinical trials of remdesivir for BVD patients might be warranted." Eighteen patients with no control group cannot show that a drug works — and the same drug was inferior against Zaire virus in PALM. What the series does show is that Bundibugyo virus, treated early in a well-resourced unit, can have a fatality rate of one in ten.
Post-Exposure Prophylaxis — a Registered Trial for Zaire Virus Only
ClinicalTrials.gov lists a Phase 3 trial of Ervebo plus Inmazeb as post-exposure prophylaxis (NCT06841614, "EBO-PEP", sponsored by ANRS Emerging Infectious Diseases) with a September 2026 start in DRC, Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone. Like the products themselves, it targets Ebola (Zaire) virus.
What Is Not Known — Stated Plainly
- Whether Inmazeb or Ebanga have any activity against Bundibugyo virus in people. Both labels say efficacy "has not been established"; the glycoprotein the antibodies bind belongs to a different species. No human data have been published.
- Whether remdesivir improves survival in Bundibugyo virus disease. Eighteen uncontrolled patients, and a negative result against the related Zaire virus.
- What PARTNERS is testing and what it has found. WHO has published enrolment counts only.
- Whether the 2026 fatality gap between Uganda (10%) and DRC (48%) is treatment, timing of care, case detection, or the virus. See the symptoms page for the three explanations and their evidence.
Approved Vaccines
One vaccine is currently licensed — Ervebo. The second regimen, Zabdeno/Mvabea, had its EU marketing authorisations withdrawn on May 1, 2026. Both were built against Ebola (Zaire) virus only and neither is established against Bundibugyo virus, the species behind the 2026 DRC outbreak.
Ervebo (rVSV-ZEBOV) — Merck
Approved: FDA approval December 19, 2019 for adults; extended to individuals 12 months and older on July 27, 2023. FDA's current indication: "the prevention of disease caused by Zaire ebolavirus in individuals 12 months of age and older" (content current as of April 21, 2026).
How it works: A live, replication-competent vesicular stomatitis virus engineered to express the Zaire ebolavirus glycoprotein, given as a single dose.
Efficacy: Guinea ring vaccination trial (Henao-Restrepo et al., The Lancet 2017): in the randomised comparison, 0 cases among immediately vaccinated contacts versus 16 in delayed-vaccination rings — vaccine efficacy 100% (95% CI 68.9–100, p=0.0045); across all 117 rings, 0 versus 23 cases (95% CI 79.3–100). 5,837 people were vaccinated and followed for 84 days.
Use: WHO recommends it as part of outbreak response to Ebola virus disease (SAGE, July 2024, per the WHO fact sheet).
⚠️ CDC: "ERVEBO does not provide protection against other species of orthoebolaviruses." WHO SAGE, August 19, 2026: efficacy against Bundibugyo virus "remains unknown."
Zabdeno & Mvabea — Janssen
Status: Granted EU marketing authorisation under exceptional circumstances on July 1, 2020 for people aged 1 year and older; made unlimited in 2025; withdrawn by the European Commission on May 1, 2026 at Janssen's request "for commercial reasons." Per EMA, "the product had not been marketed in the EU." It was never FDA-approved. WHO's fact sheet still lists it as one of two approved vaccines — the two sources disagree, and EMA's register is the one that governs.
How it works: A two-dose prime-boost regimen. Zabdeno (Ad26.ZEBOV) uses an adenovirus vector; Mvabea (MVA-BN-Filo) is a Modified Vaccinia Ankara vector expressing several filovirus antigens.
Use: Designed for preventive vaccination of at-risk populations rather than outbreak response. Doses already in stockpiles or trials are unaffected by the EU withdrawal, but there is no longer a licensed product to supply.
⚠️ Not established against Bundibugyo virus (the 2026 DRC species), and no longer licensed for Ebola (Zaire) virus either.
Ervebo in the 2026 Outbreak — Under a Research Protocol
The sequence of WHO decisions, from its Disease Outbreak News: on August 7, 2026 the Technical Advisory Group on candidate vaccine prioritisation recommended that Ervebo "be prioritized for inclusion in a randomized clinical trial" in DRC. On August 19, SAGE reviewed additional evidence and concluded that "available evidence remains insufficient to support the programmatic use of Ervebo for the prevention of BVD, and that its efficacy against BVD in humans remains unknown"; WHO therefore recommends use "only within the context of a research protocol." On August 27, vaccination of health workers began in Kisangani, Tshopo. By September 6, 2026, 2,007 health and frontline workers had been vaccinated across six health zones in Tshopo, Bas-Uélé and Ituri (DON 616, 617). The point of doing it inside a protocol is to generate the efficacy evidence that does not exist; no result has been published.
Bundibugyo-specific candidates. The only Bundibugyo-specific vaccine in human trials on ClinicalTrials.gov is Moderna's mRNA-1469 — a Phase 1, placebo-controlled dose-escalation study in 84 healthy adults at three Canadian sites, begun July 31, 2026, with an estimated completion date of September 30, 2027 (NCT07737717). Phase 1 measures safety and immune response, not protection.
Compared to what? Ebola is one of the few diseases where a single vaccine dose has a randomised efficacy estimate of 100% — and one of the few where that estimate is irrelevant to the current outbreak. For Ebola's risk alongside 14 other viruses, see the Virus Risk Perspective and this site's Ebola risk perspective.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is there a cure for Ebola?
There is no single "cure," but two FDA-approved antibody treatments — Inmazeb (REGN-EB3) and Ebanga (mAb114) — substantially reduce deaths from Ebola (Zaire) virus. In the PALM trial, 28-day mortality was 33.5% with REGN-EB3 versus 51.3% in its concurrent ZMapp control, and 35.1% with mAb114 versus 49.7% with ZMapp (Mulangu et al., NEJM 2019). Both FDA labels state that efficacy "has not been established for other species" — including Bundibugyo virus, the species behind the 2026 DRC outbreak.
Is there an Ebola vaccine?
Yes, for Ebola (Zaire) virus: Ervebo (rVSV-ZEBOV, Merck), which showed 100% efficacy (95% CI 68.9–100) in the randomised part of the Guinea ring vaccination trial (Henao-Restrepo et al., The Lancet 2017), and, until May 1, 2026, the Zabdeno/Mvabea prime-boost regimen (Janssen), whose EU marketing authorisations were withdrawn at the company's request and which was never marketed (EMA). Neither is approved or established against Bundibugyo virus. WHO's SAGE concluded on August 19, 2026 that Ervebo should be used against Bundibugyo virus only within a research protocol; 2,007 health and frontline workers had received it under that protocol by September 6, 2026 (WHO DON 617). The only Bundibugyo-specific vaccine in human trials is a Phase 1 study in Canada (NCT07737717).
What is the most important treatment for Ebola?
Supportive care is the foundation of treatment for every species and the only established treatment for Bundibugyo virus: IV fluids, electrolyte replacement, blood pressure support, treatment of secondary infections, and oxygen (CDC). Early initiation is strongly associated with survival — 81.5% of the 27 patients treated in US and European hospitals in 2014–15 survived (Uyeki et al., NEJM 2016), and in 2026 the 20 confirmed cases treated promptly in Uganda had a fatality rate of 10% (CDC MMWR).
Do the approved antivirals work against the 2026 Bundibugyo outbreak?
Not established, and the FDA labels say so in those words. Inmazeb and Ebanga are monoclonal antibodies against the Zaire ebolavirus glycoprotein; Bundibugyo virus has a different glycoprotein, so cross-protection cannot be assumed. What is actually being done: WHO's PARTNERS trial has enrolled more than 300 patients in Ituri (WHO DON 617), and Uganda gave remdesivir off-label to all 18 of its treatment-unit patients, 90% of whom survived — an uncontrolled series, not proof (CDC MMWR, September 2026).
Related Topics
Symptoms
Symptom frequencies from three case series, and what predicts death.
Read more →2026 Outbreak
Active DRC outbreak — no approved vaccine or antiviral.
Read more →Research
Landmark studies on Ebola therapeutics and vaccines.
Read more →Prevention
What the outbreak data say each measure achieved.
Read more →Sources & References
- Mulangu S, et al. A Randomized, Controlled Trial of Ebola Virus Disease Therapeutics. N Engl J Med 2019;381:2293–303. doi:10.1056/NEJMoa1910993 · ClinicalTrials.gov NCT03719586
- Henao-Restrepo AM, et al. Efficacy and effectiveness of an rVSV-vectored vaccine in preventing Ebola virus disease: final results from the Guinea ring vaccination, open-label, cluster-randomised trial (Ebola Ça Suffit!). Lancet 2017;389:505–518. doi:10.1016/S0140-6736(16)32621-6
- U.S. Food and Drug Administration. INMAZEB prescribing information (label effective December 15, 2025) and EBANGA prescribing information (label effective August 13, 2026), via openFDA drug label API. fda.gov/drugs
- U.S. Food and Drug Administration. ERVEBO. Content current as of April 21, 2026. fda.gov/vaccines-blood-biologics/ervebo
- Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Clinical Guidance for Ebola Disease. Page dated May 27, 2026. cdc.gov/ebola/hcp/clinical-guidance
- World Health Organization. Ebola disease — fact sheet. Updated May 2026. who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/ebola-disease
- World Health Organization. Disease Outbreak News 615 (August 14), 616 (August 28) and 617 (September 10, 2026): Ebola disease caused by Bundibugyo virus — Democratic Republic of the Congo. who.int/…/2026-DON617
- Mutegeki M, et al. Notes from the Field: Clinical Characteristics of Patients with Ebola Disease Caused by Bundibugyo Virus — Uganda, 2026. MMWR Morb Mortal Wkly Rep 2026;75(35):551–553. doi:10.15585/mmwr.mm7535a2
- Uyeki TM, et al. Clinical Management of Ebola Virus Disease in the United States and Europe. N Engl J Med 2016;374:636–46. doi:10.1056/NEJMoa1504874
- WHO Ebola Response Team. Ebola virus disease in West Africa — the first 9 months of the epidemic and forward projections. N Engl J Med 2014;371:1481–95. doi:10.1056/NEJMoa1411100
- ClinicalTrials.gov. NCT07737717 (mRNA-1469, Bundibugyo virus vaccine, Phase 1; record updated September 10, 2026) and NCT06841614 (EBO-PEP, Ervebo plus Inmazeb post-exposure prophylaxis, Phase 3). clinicaltrials.gov/study/NCT07737717
