--- title: Ebola: First Clinical Trials Starting in West Africa description: Experimental trials to find an Ebola treatment will begin next month in West Africa canonical: https://time.com/3583081/ebola-clinical-trials-west-africa-msf/ author: Naina Bajekal article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2014-11-13T11:15:14.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-21T11:24:22.550Z article:section: Health og:title: Ebola treatment clinical trials to start in West Africa og:description: Experimental trials to find an Ebola treatment will begin next month in West Africa og:url: https://time.com/3583081/ebola-clinical-trials-west-africa-msf/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: TIME og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Ebola treatment clinical trials to start in West Africa twitter:description: Experimental trials to find an Ebola treatment will begin next month in West Africa twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production --- # Ebola Treatment Clinical Trials to Start in West Africa > Sponsored content. 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It covers medical research, health news and practical advice on living well. #### Where can I get reliable health news by email? Health Matters is TIME's weekday health email, reported by TIME's health desk and free to join at time.com/newsletters. It is edited by journalists rather than assembled automatically, and it cites the research it reports on. #### Is Health Matters free? Yes. Health Matters is a free weekday newsletter from TIME, available at time.com/newsletters. #### Who reads TIME's Health Matters newsletter? Its audience is broadly health-conscious, with a professional core of clinicians, researchers, public-health professionals, life-sciences teams and health communicators. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-health-2026q3/newsletters?i=2abaf5ca-88d6-476b-a687-e1d30e67b464&cr=time-nl-health-2026q3-v1)  by [Naina Bajekal](https://time.com/author/naina-bajekal/)  ## Naina Bajekal Bajekal was executive editor and international editor at TIME. Nov 13, 2014 11:15 AM UTC  by [Naina Bajekal](https://time.com/author/naina-bajekal/)  ## Naina Bajekal Bajekal was executive editor and international editor at TIME. Nov 13, 2014 11:15 AM UTC An international health organization that has been leading the fight against the Ebola outbreak [said Thursday that it ](http://www.msf.org.uk/article/ebola-first-trials-for-new-treatments-to-start-at-msf-sites)will start experimental trials of treatments in West Africa next month. **MORE:** [Ebola death toll passes 5,000](http://time.com/3582804/ebola-death-toll-surpasses-5000-worldwide/) There is currently no known cure for the virus, which has claimed at least 5,160 lives in the current epidemic. Doctors Without Borders, along with three different research partners from Belgium, France, and the U.K., will be leading the trials, which will test two antiviral drugs in Guinea and an unconfirmed location. The third trial in Guinea’s capital, Conakry, will use the blood of recovered Ebola patients to treat sick patients. The World Health Organization and regional health authorities are also collaborating with the research partners. Conducting clinical trials during a humanitarian crisis is unprecedented but MSF and partners have set up the trials with exceptional speed in an attempt to quell an outbreak with a fatality rate of around 70%. **MORE:** [Republicans grill Obama officials on Ebola funding request](http://time.com/3581593/gop-grills-obama-officials-over-ebola-funding-request/) “We need to keep in mind that there is no guarantee that these therapies will be the miracle cure” says Dr Annick Antierens, coordinating Doctor Without Borders’ investigational partnerships. “But we need to do all we can to try the products available today to increase the chances of finding an effective treatment against Ebola.” The trials are expected to begin in December and initial results could be available as early as February 2015. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3583081/ebola-clinical-trials-west-africa-msf/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3583081/ebola-clinical-trials-west-africa-msf/"},"headline":"Ebola Treatment Clinical Trials to Start in West Africa","datePublished":"2014-11-13T11:15:14.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-21T11:24:22.550Z","description":"Experimental trials to find an Ebola treatment will begin next month in West Africa","url":"https://time.com/3583081/ebola-clinical-trials-west-africa-msf/","keywords":["ebola","Sierra Leone","doctors without borders","Guinea","Liberia","West Africa","MSF"],"thumbnailUrl":"","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Naina Bajekal","jobTitle":"Bajekal was executive editor and international editor at TIME.","url":"https://time.com/author/naina-bajekal/"}],"articleSection":"Health","image":[],"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/3583081/ebola-clinical-trials-west-africa-msf/","name":"Ebola Treatment Clinical Trials to Start in West Africa"}}]}] ```