Monoclonal antibody treatment shown to provide protection against Marburg, Ravn viruses in nonhuman primates

According to a new study funded by the National Institutes of Health, a monoclonal antibody treatment, MR191-N, successfully protected nonhuman primates against both the Marburg and Ravn viruses even when administered five days after infection.

The study was conducted by the University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston (UTMB), Mapp Biopharmaceutical Inc. and Vanderbilt University.

There are no vaccines currently available to treat either virus. Both the Marburg and Ravn viruses are classified as flavioviruses, which is the same family as Ebola. The average fatality rate for Marburg cases is approximately 80 percent.

“In this paper, we demonstrated that one monoclonal antibody is able to protect up to 100 percent of Marburg or Ravn virus-infected non-human primates when the antibody treatment is given up to five days following exposure to a lethal amount of the virus,” said Thomas Geisbert, UTMB professor of microbiology and immunology.

Previous Marburg treatment studies involved daily dosages for seven and 14 days, with treatment starting closer to the time of infection.

Geisbert said the study’s findings extend the growing body of evidence that monoclonal antibodies can provide protection during advanced stages of disease with highly dangerous viruses and could be useful during an epidemic.

There are currently 45 monoclonal antibodies approved by both the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and the European Medicines Agency.

Research was conducted at UTMB’s Galveston National Laboratory Biosafety Level-4, a highly-restrictive area where researchers are required to wear positive pressure protective suits to study deadly pathogens.

The study received support from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), and the National Center for Advancing Translational Science.

Findings from the study were published in a recent issue of the journal Science Translational Medicine.