On Oct. 14, 2024, RedHill Biopharma announced that the U.S. government’s Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA) had selected opaganib for development to treat exposure to Ebola virus disease (EBOV).

Under this cost-sharing contract, BARDA will provide partial funding for the company to further advance opaganib to mitigate infection and contain EBOV outbreaks. To date, opaganib has made positive development progress on the expected Animal Rule pathway towards potential approval as a treatment for EBOV. The Animal Rule allows for the use of pivotal animal model efficacy studies to support U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approval of new drugs when human clinical trials are not ethical or feasible.