Ebola_Tx · Project

Proven Protocols for Ebola Treatment Using Survivor Blood and Plasma Therapy

healthTestedTRL 6Thin data (2/5)

When someone survives Ebola, their blood carries antibodies that could help sick patients fight the virus. This project ran an actual clinical trial in West Africa during the 2014 epidemic to find out whether giving patients transfusions of survivor blood or plasma could cut the death rate by 20%. They treated cohorts of 100 patients each with whole blood, plasma, or standard care alone, and built the protocols for doing this safely in places with very few medical resources. Think of it as turning survivors into a living medicine factory during a crisis.

By the numbers

20%

Targeted decrease in case fatality rate considered proof of clinical efficacy

100

Patients per treatment cohort (convalescent whole blood, plasma, and supportive care)

Day 14

Mortality measurement point used as primary outcome

EUR 2,892,171

Total EU contribution to the project

Partners in the consortium across 3 countries

Total project deliverables produced

The business problem

What needed solving

Ebola outbreaks kill up to 90% of infected patients, and in resource-poor settings there are almost no treatment options beyond basic supportive care. Blood banks, biodefense companies, and humanitarian organizations need clinically validated protocols to deploy convalescent plasma therapy rapidly during outbreaks, but until this project, no rigorous trial had been conducted under real epidemic conditions.

The solution

What was built

The project produced validated clinical trial protocols for convalescent whole blood and plasma therapy, tested on cohorts of 100 patients each in West Africa during the 2014 Ebola epidemic. Key deliverables include blood qualification methods with antibody characterization, standardized supportive care protocols for resource-poor settings, a comprehensive community mobilization strategy, and virological response monitoring data.

Audience

Who needs this

National blood service organizations expanding into outbreak-response productsBiodefense and pandemic preparedness companies building treatment portfoliosInternational NGOs operating Ebola treatment centres (e.g., MSF, WHO partners)Governments stockpiling outbreak response protocols for health securityPlasma fractionation companies seeking validated collection protocols for emerging pathogens

Business applications

Who can put this to work

Blood Banking and Plasma Collection

enterprise

Target: Blood service organizations and plasma fractionation companies

If you are a blood bank or plasma services company looking to expand into outbreak-response products — this project developed validated protocols for collecting, qualifying, and administering convalescent blood and plasma under emergency conditions. They characterized antibody titres and seroneutralizing activity in donated blood and tested the therapy on cohorts of 100 patients. These protocols could be licensed and adapted for your rapid-response product line.

Pharmaceutical and Biodefense

enterprise

Target: Biodefense and pandemic preparedness companies

If you are a biodefense company building pandemic response capabilities — this project generated clinical data on convalescent plasma therapy across 100-patient cohorts with Day 14 mortality endpoints. The standardized supportive care protocols and blood qualification methods provide a ready-made clinical framework for your Ebola or broader hemorrhagic fever treatment portfolio. The 8-partner consortium across 3 countries already validated cross-border emergency trial logistics.

Humanitarian Health Services

any

Target: NGOs and international health organizations operating in outbreak zones

If you are an international health organization managing Ebola treatment centres — this project built a complete community mobilization strategy and standardized supportive care protocols tested in resource-poor West African settings. Their approach to donor recruitment, patient consent in emergency contexts, and healthcare worker safety training addresses the exact operational gaps you face during outbreaks. The trial enrolled cohorts of 100 patients proving these protocols work under real field conditions.

Frequently asked

Quick answers

What would it cost to implement these convalescent plasma protocols?

The project operated on a EUR 2,892,171 EU budget across 8 partners over 2 years. The treatment itself — collecting and transfusing survivor blood — is relatively low-cost compared to drug development, since the 'active ingredient' comes from recovered patients. However, blood qualification, antibody characterization, and cold chain logistics add operational costs that would vary by setting.

Can this approach scale beyond the original trial sites?

The project was specifically designed for scale-up. Their objective states that if effective, this intervention can be scaled up relatively rapidly because the trial provides the information required to mobilize local partners. The protocols were built for poor-resource settings, meaning they are already adapted for the most challenging deployment conditions.

Who owns the intellectual property and clinical protocols?

The consortium of 8 partners — led by the Institute of Tropical Medicine in Belgium — includes 5 universities and 2 research organizations with no industrial partners. IP likely resides with the academic consortium. Based on available project data, licensing terms would need to be negotiated directly with the coordinator.

What clinical evidence was actually generated?

The trial evaluated three treatment arms: convalescent whole blood plus supportive care, convalescent plasma plus supportive care, and supportive care alone. Each arm targeted cohorts of 100 patients with Day 14 mortality as the primary endpoint. They aimed to detect a 20% decrease in the case fatality rate as proof of clinical efficacy.

How quickly could this be deployed in the next Ebola outbreak?

The project ran from November 2014 to October 2016, meaning it was activated during an active epidemic. The protocols cover the full chain from community mobilization to donor recruitment to blood qualification to patient treatment. Based on available project data, the deployment speed depends on having recovered survivors as donors and functioning blood collection infrastructure.

What about safety for healthcare workers?

The project explicitly prioritized healthcare worker safety, including consent to participate, adequate training, and psycho-emotional support. The standardized supportive care protocols also cover intravenous hydration and shock management procedures designed to minimize exposure risk during treatment of Ebola patients.

How does this compare to antiviral drugs or vaccines?

Convalescent plasma therapy has a key advantage: it can be available almost immediately during an outbreak because it uses blood from local survivors, without the years-long drug development and manufacturing pipeline. The trade-off is supply depends on having enough recovered donors. This project provides the clinical data to position plasma therapy as a bridge treatment while vaccines and drugs are being deployed.

Consortium

Who built it

This is a purely academic and research consortium — 5 universities and 2 research organizations across Belgium, France, and the UK, with zero industrial partners and zero SMEs. The coordinator, the Institute of Tropical Medicine in Belgium, is a higher education institution. The absence of any industry involvement means the clinical protocols and trial data are sitting entirely within academia, which creates a clear opportunity for a commercial partner to license and operationalize the results. The EUR 2,892,171 budget supported an 8-partner team that managed to run a clinical trial during an active Ebola epidemic — demonstrating serious operational capability despite the all-academic makeup.

INSTITUUT VOOR TROPISCHE GENEESKUNDECoordinator · BE
INSTITUT NATIONAL DE LA SANTE ET DE LA RECHERCHE MEDICALEparticipant · FR
ETABLISSEMENT FRANCAIS DU SANGparticipant · FR
LONDON SCHOOL OF HYGIENE AND TROPICAL MEDICINE ROYAL CHARTERparticipant · UK
INSTITUT PASTEURparticipant · FR
THE UNIVERSITY OF LIVERPOOLparticipant · UK
THE CHANCELLOR, MASTERS AND SCHOLARS OF THE UNIVERSITY OF OXFORDparticipant · UK
UNIVERSITE D'AIX MARSEILLEparticipant · FR

How to reach the team

The coordinator is the Institute of Tropical Medicine in Belgium (INSTITUUT VOOR TROPISCHE GENEESKUNDE). SciTransfer can facilitate a direct introduction to the project lead.

Order a report on this consortium See INSTITUUT VOOR TROPISCHE GENEESKUNDE profile →

Next steps

Talk to the team behind this work.

Want to license these convalescent plasma protocols for your outbreak preparedness portfolio? SciTransfer connects you directly with the research team — contact us for an introduction.

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