--- title: Dallas Ebola Patient Thomas Duncan Receiving An Experimental Drug description: Patient still in critical condition canonical: https://time.com/3475718/dallas-ebola-experimental-drug/ author: Alexandra Sifferlin article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2014-10-06T18:10:32.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-21T10:36:52.966Z article:section: Health og:title: Dallas Ebola Patient Receiving An Experimental Drug og:description: Patient still in critical condition og:url: https://time.com/3475718/dallas-ebola-experimental-drug/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt1a962c03f452a6f6/6986a731cd804da86fccd2cb/cdc-tom-frieden-ebola-dallas.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: Center For Disease Control Director Tom Frieden Addresses The Media On Ebola Case In U.S. og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Dallas Ebola Patient Receiving An Experimental Drug twitter:description: Patient still in critical condition twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt1a962c03f452a6f6/6986a731cd804da86fccd2cb/cdc-tom-frieden-ebola-dallas.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Dallas Ebola Patient Gets Experimental Drug ## Video: 5 Ebola Questions You're Wondering About [Watch (HLS stream): 5 Ebola Questions You're Wondering About](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/9QwqrSi9.m3u8) (2:02)  _Published 2014-08-07. TIME Health Reporter Alexandra Sifferlin explains why there's no cure for Ebola, how infected patients are treated, and more common questions about the disease._ by [Alexandra Sifferlin](https://time.com/author/alexandra-sifferlin/) ## Alexandra Sifferlin Oct 6, 2014 6:10 PM UTC  Director of Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Tom Frieden addresses the media on the Ebola case in the U.S. at the Tom Harkin Global Communications Center on Oct. 5, 2014 in Atlanta. Director of Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Tom Frieden addresses the media on the Ebola case in the U.S. at the Tom Harkin Global Communications Center on Oct. 5, 2014 in Atlanta.Kevin C. Cox—Getty Images by [Alexandra Sifferlin](https://time.com/author/alexandra-sifferlin/) ## Alexandra Sifferlin Oct 6, 2014 6:10 PM UTC Dallas Ebola patient Thomas Duncan is now receiving an experimental drug called brincidofovir, a broad-spectrum antiviral that has appeared promising against Ebola in test tube studies. The drug is currently being tested on animals but has not been tested on humans. Duncan is still in critical condition, according to Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital. The drug is an oral medication developed by the biopharmaceutical company Chimerix Inc. The company [says](http://ir.chimerix.com/releasedetail.cfm?ReleaseID=874647) the drug received Emergency Investigational New Drug Applications (EIND) from the Food and Drug Administration on Monday morning and it is working with the agency to open a clinical trial. The request for use of investigational drugs can be made by physicians. So far, this drug has only shown effectiveness against the virus in vitro. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention director Dr. Tom Frieden [previously said](http://time.com/3471866/ebola-dallas-homeless-man-missing/) the decision of whether to treat Duncan with any experimental drugs would be left up Duncan, his family and his doctors. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3475718/dallas-ebola-experimental-drug/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3475718/dallas-ebola-experimental-drug/"},"headline":"Dallas Ebola Patient Gets Experimental Drug","datePublished":"2014-10-06T18:10:32.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-21T10:36:52.966Z","description":"Patient still in critical condition","url":"https://time.com/3475718/dallas-ebola-experimental-drug/","keywords":["ebola","Texas","Dallas","Ebola outbreak"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt1a962c03f452a6f6/6986a731cd804da86fccd2cb/cdc-tom-frieden-ebola-dallas.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Alexandra Sifferlin","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/alexandra-sifferlin/"}],"articleSection":"Health","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt1a962c03f452a6f6/6986a731cd804da86fccd2cb/cdc-tom-frieden-ebola-dallas.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Center For Disease Control Director Tom Frieden Addresses The Media On Ebola Case In U.S.","caption":"Center For Disease Control Director Tom Frieden Addresses The Media On Ebola Case In U.S.","creditText":"Kevin C. Cox—Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/health/","name":"Health"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/ebola/","name":"ebola"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3475718/dallas-ebola-experimental-drug/","name":"Dallas Ebola Patient Gets Experimental Drug"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"5 Ebola Questions You're Wondering About","description":"TIME Health Reporter Alexandra Sifferlin explains why there's no cure for Ebola, how infected patients are treated, and more common questions about the disease.","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/9QwqrSi9/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2014-08-07T17:31:26.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/9QwqrSi9.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/3475718/dallas-ebola-experimental-drug/","duration":"PT2M2S","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/3475718/dallas-ebola-experimental-drug/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}}] ```