5,000 Remdesivir Doses Donated to Combat Rwanda's Marburg Disease Outbreak

According to Reuters, Gilead Sciences today announced it would donate about 5,000 vials of its antiviral drug remdesivir (Veklury®) for emergency use in response to the ongoing Marburg virus disease (MVD) outbreak in the Republic of Rwanda.

This U.S. FDA-approved antiviral drug is being evaluated since no approved MVD vaccines are available.

However, several Marburg vaccine candidates, utilizing various technologies, are actively conducting clinical trials.

The drugmaker clarified that Remdesivir, originally developed to treat Ebola, is not approved for treating Marburg disease anywhere, and its safety and efficacy against the virus is unknown.

As of October 3, 2024, Rwanad's first MVD outbreak has produced eleven fatalities out of 36 confirmed cases.

The World Helath Organization recently assessed the risk of this MVD outbreak as very high at the national level, high at the regional level, and low at the global level. And the local government anticipates additional MVD cases to be reported this year.