North Carolina drugmaker gets FDA approval to provide experimental treatment to Ebola patients

A North Carolina drugmaker says it is providing an experimental antiviral drug for patients with Ebola, an emergency step authorized by the Food and Drug Administration.

Chimerix Inc. says physicians sought federal permission to use company's drug, called brincidofovir, which is in late-stage testing for other types of viruses. The company did not identify the physicians making the request.

Last Tuesday doctors in Dallas diagnosed the first U.S. case of Ebola in a man who recently arrived from Liberia.

Brincidofovir is an oral antiviral drug being tested to fight more common viruses, including one that infects patients undergoing bone marrow transplants. Laboratory tests suggested it might also fight Ebola.

Two other experimental drugs developed specifically for Ebola have been used in American patients. None have been approved by the FDA.