In animal studies, the antibody drugs worked best when given soon after infection, within a day or two. The antibody drug when combined with another drug (a recombinant immune system protein) was effective up to three days after infection.
That means that the drug has to be given before symptoms appear or when they are still mild, to have the most effect.
Although results from animals cannot be extrapolated directly to humans, I would say that the window of opportunity for everyone who has received the drug was long past by the time they got it. I am not surprised that two of the patients who received it died—they were well into the symptomatic phase of the disease when they got it, well past the stage where it has been shown effective in animal studies.
Almost every drug tested for Ebola has the weakness that it must be given before the virus has a chance to establish. And even if there were a good candidate, there is still the slight problem that it cannot be tested in humans in phase 3 efficacy trials. No one will ever volunteer to be infected with Ebola for efficacy trials, and it is unlikely a review board would ever approve such a study.
I was just basing my post on the repeated ‘This is the only dose we have!’....’No, this is the last one...’...’This is really the very very last one we have’.