title: Improving attrition rates in Ebola virus drug discovery.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  The Ebola 2014/2015 outbreak has had devastating effects on the people living in West Africa. The spread of the disease in endemic countries and the potential introduction of sporadic cases in other continents points out the global health threat of Ebola virus disease (EVD). Despite the urgent need for treating EVD, there are no approved treatments. Given the lack of treatments available, alternative therapeutic strategies have had to be used.
  
  
  METHODS
  This article summarizes the unregistered therapeutics that were used to treat patients during the Ebola 2014/2015 outbreak, in addition to approaches used for the selection of candidate drugs. The article also proposes potential theoretical criterion for use in virtual screening of molecular libraries for candidate Ebola drugs.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  In the absence of approved therapeutics for EVD, experimental drugs have had to be used. The repurposing of approved drugs for the treatment of EVD, as an alternative therapeutic strategy, has also been suggested. Screening in vitro- and in silico-approved drugs revealed several promising candidates but further testing is required to test their efficacy. All these therapeutic approaches are, however, only short-term solutions and there is still an urgent need for the development of specific drugs for the current and future outbreaks.
authors.affiliation: University of Belgrade, Institute of Nuclear Sciences, Center for Multidisciplinary Research , P.O.Box 522, 11001 Belgrade , Serbia +381 11 6453 686 ; +381 11 3440 100 ; vv@vinca.rs.
authors.forename: Sanja
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Glisic
authors.forename: Slobodan
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Paessler
authors.forename: Nevena
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Veljkovic
authors.forename: Vladimir R
authors.initials: VR
authors.lastname: Perovic
authors.forename: Jelena
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Prljic
authors.forename: Veljko
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Veljkovic
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D000998:Antiviral Agents / Q000627:therapeutic use; D003198:Computer Simulation; D004196:Disease Outbreaks; D015195:Drug Design; D055808:Drug Discovery / Q000379:methods*; D058492:Drug Repositioning; D029043:Ebolavirus / Q000302:isolation & purification; D014943:Global Health; D019142:Hemorrhagic Fever, Ebola / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000821:virology; D006801:Humans; D054852:Small Molecule Libraries
chemical_list: D000998:Antiviral Agents; D054852:Small Molecule Libraries
keywords: Ebola virus; drug discovery; virtual screening