Ansuvimab, sold under the brand name Ebanga, is a monoclonal antibody medication for the treatment of Zaire ebolavirus (Ebolavirus) infection.The most common symptoms include fever, tachycardia (fast heart rate), diarrhea, vomiting, hypotension (low blood pressure), tachypnea (fast breathing) and chills; however, these are also common symptoms of Ebolavirus infection.Ansuvimab was approved for medical use in the United States in December 2020. Chemistry
The drug is composed of a single monoclonal antibody (mAb) and was initially isolated from immortalized B-cells that were obtained from a survivor of the 1995 outbreak of Ebola virus disease in Kikwit, Democratic Republic of Congo. In work supported by the United States National Institutes of Health and the Defense Advanced Projects Agency, the heavy and light chain sequences of ansuvimab mAb was cloned into CHO cell lines and initial production runs were produced by Cook Phamica d.b.a. Catalent under contract of Medimmune. Mechanism of action
Neutralization
Ansuvimab is a monoclonal antibody therapy that is infused intravenously into patients with Ebola virus disease. Ansuvimab is a neutralizing antibody, meaning it binds to a protein on the surface of Ebola virus that is required to infect cells. Specifically, ansuvimab neutralizes infection by binding to a region of the Ebola virus envelope glycoprotein that, in the absence of ansuvimab, would interact with viruss cell receptor protein, Niemann-Pick C1 (NPC1). This "competition" by ansuvimab prevents Ebola virus from binding to NPC1 and "neutralizes" the viruss ability to infect the targeted cell. Effector function
Antibodies have antigen-binding fragment (Fab) regions and constant fragment (Fc) regions.
All patients in the outbreak who elect to participate in the trial will now be given either ansuvimab or REGN-EB3.In October 2020, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved atoltivimab/maftivimab/odesivimab (Inmazeb, formerly REGN-EB3) with an indication for the treatment of infection caused by Zaire ebolavirus. References
External links
"Ansuvimab". Drug Information Portal. U.S. National Library of Medicine. Clinical trial number NCT03719586 for "Investigational Therapeutics for the Treatment of People With Ebola Virus Disease" at ClinicalTrials.gov