Ebola clinical trials must ensure equitable access to treatment

Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) is calling for greater transparency on their development, warning that past experience has shown that clinical success alone does not guarantee equitable and timely access to proven treatments, and effective treatments can still face delays, limited stockpiles, and reliance on ad hoc donations that restrict availability.

MSF has published a technical brief, “Therapeutics for the 2026 Bundibugyo Ebola Disease Outbreak: Access Gaps and Recommendations,” which analyzes access challenges related to the three Bundibugyo Ebola virus therapeutic candidates — MBP134, remdesivir, and obeldesivir — that are currently being evaluated in DRC through the PARTNERS and EBO-PEP clinical trials. MSF is also participating in the World Health Organization (WHO)-sponsored PARTNERS trial through our Ebola treatment center in Bunia, Ituri province.

Mapp Biopharmaceutical and Gilead Sciences are developing the three candidates with public and philanthropic funding support, including for clinical evaluations. The MSF brief highlights that, despite repeated calls for transparency, publicly available information on pricing, licensing, supply, and post-trial access remains extremely limited. 

The brief aims to inform pharmaceutical corporations, policymakers, funders, UN agencies, and civil society organizations about the status of Bundibugyo virus therapeutic candidates, key access concerns, and recommendations to help ensure equitable access if any of these treatments prove effective. 

Dr. Monica Rull, deputy executive director of MSF Access, stated today:

“As clinical trials for promising Bundibugyo Ebola virus therapeutics move forward in DRC, there is a window of opportunity to ensure that any effective tools are accessible to the people who need them most. Experience from past Ebola outbreaks has shown that scientific progress alone is not enough. Greater transparency and clear planning for financing, stockpiling, and the inclusion of children in development and access strategies are essential to prevent the same delays and inequities from being repeated.

“If access is considered only after efficacy is proven, [access to] future Bundibugyo virus treatments may once again be determined by non-transparent commercial decisions by pharmaceutical corporations and reactive last-minute measures. Funders, researchers, and policymakers engaged in therapeutic clinical trials must act now to include the right access conditions in a transparent way.”