Collaborations Pharmaceuticals, Inc. and the University of Texas Medical Branch will perform preclinical in vivo studies on a potential treatment for Ebola.

RALEIGH, NC, UNITED STATES, November 19, 2025 /EINPresswire.com/ -- Collaborations Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (CPI) and the University of Texas Medical Branch (UTMB) are pleased to announce that they were awarded a $1,999,195 Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) contract from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), to perform preclinical in vivo studies on pyronaridine as a potential treatment for Ebola.

Ebola virus disease (EVD) is a viral hemorrhagic fever in humans that results from infection with ebolaviruses and kills 25-90%.The large-scale Ebola virus (EBOV) outbreak in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (2018-2020) resulted in the deaths of over 2200 people. While there is now an approved vaccine for prevention of EVD and monoclonal antibody drugs, we still have no approved small molecule antivirals to treat patients (although there are several treatments that have reached clinical trials). There is therefore a need for broad spectrum antivirals that can be stockpiled for the next major outbreak. We have recently identified pyronaridine as a potential antiviral against EVD and now propose to perform in vivo studies at UTMB’s Robert E. Shope and the Galveston National Lab (GNL) BSL-4 laboratories. Our ultimate aim is to bring this treatment to market for EBV which can be stockpiled by the USA and other countries in preparation for future outbreaks.

Sean Ekins, CEO of CPI, added, "We are very excited to continue our collaboration with Dr. David Beasley, Dr. Alexander Freiberg and colleagues at the GNL at UTMB with whom we have previously published widely on developing antiviral small molecules with activity against EVD. We have built up a body of data on this molecule with the assistance of NIAID and collaborations with different groups and the proposed study will bring us closer to Animal Rule studies which can be used in place of a clinical efficacy trial."

"This project has been funded in whole or in part with Federal funds from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, National Institutes of Health, Department of Health and Human Services, under Contract No. 75N93025C00039."

About the University of Texas Medical Branch: Texas' first academic health center opened its doors in 1891 and today has four campuses, five health sciences schools, six institutes for advanced study, a research enterprise that includes one of only two national laboratories dedicated to the safe study of infectious threats to human health, a Level 1 Trauma Center and a health system offering a full range of primary and specialized medical services throughout the Texas Gulf Coast region. UTMB is an institution in the University of Texas System and a member of the Texas Medical Center.

Sean Ekins
Collaborations Pharmaceuticals, Inc.
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