The trials in Guinea are aimed at rushing out an emergency therapy to battle an epidemic which has taken more than 5,000 lives since December.
"This is an unprecedented international partnership which represents hope for patients to finally get a real treatment against a disease that today kills between 50 and 80 percent of those infected," said Annick Antierens, who is coordinating the trials for the medical charity, known by its French initials MSF.
The first trials are due to start in December and results could be available by February next year, MSF said.
There is no specific treatment regime and, as yet, no licensed vaccine, although one of the leading candidates, known as ChAd3 and made by Britain's GlaxoSmithKline, is being tested in Mali and elsewhere
"Clinical trials of investigational drugs in the midst of a humanitarian crisis is a new experience for all of us, but we are determined not to fail the people of West Africa," said Peter Horby, who is expected to lead the Monrovia trial if it gets the go-ahead.
The trials will be the first ever on Ebola patients, Horby told AFP.
"Every time a patient gets to day 14, we will recalculate the numbers and see what proportion of patients are alive or dead... So once we have confidence that the fatality rate is 50 percent or worse, then we would say there is no evidence that the drug is improving things, because that's about the rate we see, and then we would stop the trial," he added.
"If the survival rate is 80 percent or better, we would say that this is good evidence that the trial is effective."
The WHO announced on Wednesday that the outbreak had passed a gruesome landmark, with 5,160 deaths from around 14,000 cases since Ebola emerged in the forests of southern Guinea.
Credit: AFP
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