WHO prioritizes Bundibugyo Ebola countermeasures and calls for rapid clinical trials
WHO convened expert groups to evaluate candidate vaccines and therapeutics for Bundibugyo virus disease (BDV) outbreaks in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Uganda. With no BDV-specific licensed treatments or vaccines, experts prioritized three therapeutics for evaluation in clinical trials—MBP134, Maftivimab, and remdesivir—with combination therapy also considered, and looked at obeldesivir for post‑exposure prophylaxis. The most promising BDV vaccine candidates are a single‑dose rVSV Bundibugyo vaccine (7–9 months to readiness for trials) and ChAdOx1 Bundibugyo (2–3 months to efficacy testing), while Ervebo should not be used outside carefully designed research settings to assess BDV protection. The initiative emphasizes ethics, rapid trial design, accelerated access to supplies, and strengthened outbreak control as trials proceed.