A panel of experts convened by the World Health Organization has unanimously endorsed the idea of offering unproven vaccines or treatments to help combat the unprecedented Ebola outbreak in West Africa. This outbreak is unusual not just because it has spread to four countries and involves so many people, says Dr. Marie-Paule Kieny, Assistant Director-General at the World Health Organization. It is also the first Ebola outbreak that could possibly benefit from a range of potential experimental treatments and vaccines. “If these treatments can save lives, as the animal studies suggest, should we not use them to save lives?” Kieny asked.

The WHO endorsement comes after two American missionaries and a Spanish priest received an experimental serum called ZMapp. Right now, there are few available doses of experimental treatments like this one. “I don’t think there could be any fair distribution,” says Kieny. But work is ongoing to ramp up production and speed clinical trials of various products in the hope of making more experimental drugs and vaccines available later this year.

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