Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC)

The ICG will allocate 20,000 doses to a Phase 3 clinical trial designed to assess whether Ervebo can protect people against Bundibugyo virus.

Following a review of the latest epidemiological data, the ECG noted that the DRC had recorded 4,449 confirmed Ebola cases and 2,061 confirmed deaths, representing a case-fatality rate of 46.3%.

The EBO-PEP platform trial, which has been under development since 2024, will evaluate several medicines as post-exposure prophylaxis for people who have had high-risk contact with filoviruses, the virus family that includes Bundibugyo Ebola.

The test detects the virus by identifying its genetic material in blood samples, allowing health workers to confirm infections quickly and accurately.

Unlike previous Ebola epidemics caused by the Zaire strain, the current Bundibugyo outbreak has no licensed vaccine or approved treatment, making research an urgent public health priority.

The announcement follows growing calls from public health advocates and humanitarian organizations urging the US government to share available supplies of MBP134 to support outbreak control efforts in Central Africa.

Japan will channel the support through the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC), the World Food Programme (WFP), and the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF).

This new allocation builds on earlier support, which includes US$350 million in Ebola response and broader humanitarian assistance across the DRC, South Sudan, and Uganda.

The latest recommendations come as health authorities continue to battle a widening outbreak in eastern DRC, with additional confirmed cases reported in Uganda.