BU Scientist Uses Existing Drugs in Fight Against Ebola
Original article from: Boston Globe posted on June 4, 2015. by Karen Weintraub
Hoping to develop a drug against Ebola, but lacking the $1 billion to bring a new medicine to market, Boston University infectious disease researcher Gene Olinger turned to a more affordable source of drugs — those already available at his local pharmacy.
It paid off. In a study published Wednesday, Olinger reports that he and his team have found two promising possibilities, one a pill used to treat depression, the other taken for heart pain.
Seven of 10 mice infected with a lethal dose of Ebola lived after being given Zoloft (also known as sertraline), commonly used to treat depression, anxiety, obsessive-compulsive disorder, and post-traumatic stress disorder. And all of the Ebola-infected mice given Vascor, a heart drug, survived, according to the new study in Science Translational Medicine.
These drugs are far from a cure for Ebola. They still need to be tested in monkeys and, if they work, then in people. But this screening technique could make a profound difference in the treatment of infectious diseases that may seem minor today, yet could cause the next global outbreak.