Efficient, safe malaria vaccine on the horizon

By Sola OGUNDIPE
THERE  is renewed hope for an effective universal malaria vaccine  that would offer significant protection against clinical and severe malaria, for  African children aged 5 to 17 months as well as other young children in malaria-prone regions the world over.

Announcement of the new vaccine, reputed to possess an acceptable safety and tolerability profile, follows  promising results from a large-scale Phase III trial of RTS,S,

An announcement of the first results were  made at a malaria forum hosted by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation in Seattle, Washington, noted that the trial, conducted at 11 trial sites in seven countries across sub-Saharan Africa, showed that three doses of RTS,S reduced the risk of children experiencing clinical malaria and severe malaria by 56 percent and 47 percent, respectively.

This analysis was performed on data from the first 6,000 children aged five to 17 months, over a 12-month period following vaccination.

The widespread coverage of insecticide-treated bed nets (75 percent) in this study indicated that RTS,S can provide protection in addition to that already offered by existing malaria control interventions.

An analysis of severe malaria episodes so far reported in all 15,460 infants and children enrolled in the trial at 6 weeks to 17 months of age has been performed. This analysis showed 35 percent efficacy over a follow-up period ranging between 0 and 22 months (average 11.5 months).

It was gathered that the RTS,S malaria vaccine candidate is still under development. Further information about the longer-term protective effects of the vaccine, 30 months after the third dose, would be available by the end of 2014, to provide evidence for national public health and regulatory authorities, as well as international public health organisations, to evaluate the benefits and risks of RTS,S.

In  the view of Tsiri Agbenyega, principal investigator of the trial and Chair of the Clinical Trials Partnership Committee, “The publication of the first results in children aged 5 to 17 months marks an important milestone in the development of RTS,S.

These results confirm findings from previous Phase II studies and support ongoing efforts to advance the development of this malaria vaccine candidate.  Having worked in malaria research for more than 25 years, I can attest to how difficult making progress against this disease has been.

Sadly, many have resigned themselves to malaria being a fact of life in Africa. This need not be the case. Renewed interest in malaria by the international community, and scientific evidence such as that we are reporting today, should bring new hope that malaria can be controlled.”