Ethics challenge winner 2015/2016. The use of untested drugs in the treatment of the Ebola virus

The 2015/2016 RCSIsmj Ethics Challenge presents the dilemma surrounding Ebola treatments and their distribution. Mapp Biopharmaceuticals, an American pharmaceutical company, has developed a number of promising but untested vaccines for treatment of the virus. With rising incidence and high mortality rates, the WHO decided to back the use of ZMapp, an untested Ebola intervention, in humans. Faced with this multi-faceted outbreak, we find ourselves placing under the microscope our principles with regard to clinical trials, intervention availability and duty of care beliefs. Further ethical questions arose following news that American missionaries who became infected while providing care to Ebola patients received ZMapp treatment and subsequently recovered, having been selected over Africans to receive the treatment. This article aims to examine the ethical grounds for providing patients with an untested drug for diseases such as Ebola, and the distribution, prioritisation and criteria for deciding the recipients of said treatment