A Texan man infected with Ebola has begun treatment of an experimental drug called brincindofovir after the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) authorized its use Monday.
Thomas Eric Duncan, the first person diagnosed with Ebola within the US, is being treated at Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital and is listed in critical but stable condition, Texas Health spokesperson Candace White told reporters.
The drug has only been evaluated in test tubes and has not had a trial on animals or humans.
Chimerix, the company that made the drug said on their website that the medicine, "works by keeping viruses from creating additional copies of themselves." The FDA only granted the use of brincindofovir on the basis of an emergency since the patient is in a life threatening conditions with no other alternatives.