London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine

Expert reaction to a study published in Nature on the treatment of monkeys with ZMapp. Eighteen rhesus macaques infected with Ebola were given the drug ZMapp, with 100% recovery rate.

Martin Hibberd, Professor of Emerging Infectious Disease at the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, said:

"This looks to be a very well designed study with better than expected results, which give great hope for future clinical trials. I hope the team can receive sufficient funding to undertake these clinical trials straight away as this is by far the most advanced potential treatment option available to my knowledge.

"The paper does not describe how long the monoclonal antibodies persist, but other similar antibodies are known to persist for weeks, which also opens the possibility of using this treatment prophylactically, such as protecting front line health care workers."

Professor Peter Piot, Director of the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine and co-discoverer of the Ebola virus, said:

"This well designed trial in non-human primates provides the most convincing evidence to date that ZMapp may be an effective treatment of Ebola infection in humans. It is now critical that human trials start as soon as possible.

"The resurgence of Ebola serves as a reminder of the importance of investing in health systems and infrastructure. This terrible disease is controllable with proper hygiene practices which all too often are not in place. We must work to find ways to alleviate symptoms and save lives with new treatments but at the same time we must act to prevent the spread of the disease. I never thought that 40 years after I encountered the first Ebola outbreak, this disease would still be taking lives on such a devastating scale."