Antidepressant and Heart Drug Show Promise for Combating Ebola

Two drugs approved for use in people—an antidepressant and a heart drug—might hold promise for treating Ebola, a new study in mice suggests.
The researchers screened about 2,600 compounds for their ability to hinder Ebola virus activity, and found 30 drugs that were effective against the virus in a lab dish. Two of the drugs appeared particularly promising for their action against Ebola—the antidepressant sertraline and a heart drug called bepridil. These drugs were able to protect against Ebola in mice infected with the disease. In experiments, 70 percent of mice treated with sertraline, and 100 percent of mice treated with bepridil, survived an Ebola infection. In contrast, all the mice that were not treated died from Ebola in about a week.