Malaria vaccine registers good results

RTS,S is a scientific name given to the sixth malaria vaccine on trial. It aims to trigger the immune system to defend itself against Plasmodium falciparum (the parasite in mosquitoes which causes malaria) when it first enters the human host’s bloodstream and/or when the parasite infects liver cells.

Eleven partner African research centres in seven African countries (Ghana, Burkina Faso, Gabon, Kenya, Tanzania, Malawi and Mozambique) are conducting this trial, together with GSK and the PATH Malaria Vaccine Initiative (MVI), with grant funding from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation to MVI.

The final data on the trial are expected to be released in 2014.

The key results of the  late-stage Phase III trial of the RTS,S malaria vaccine candidate in African infants were presented at an International African Vaccinology Conference in Cape Town, South Africa, at the weekend.

According to the release, when compared to immunisation with a control vaccine, infants vaccinated with RTS,S had one-third fewer episodes of both clinical and severe malaria and had similar reactions to the injection.

In that trial, RTS,S demonstrated an acceptable safety and tolerability profile, it said.

The release said a principal investigator for the trial from the Ifakara Health Institute, Tanzania, Dr Salim Abdulla, said at the launch, “An effective malaria vaccine will be a welcome addition to our tool kit and we have been working toward this goal with this RTS,S trial.”

The Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of GSK, Sir Andrew Witty, also said, “While the efficacy seen is lower than last year, we believe these results confirm that RTS,S can help provide African babies and young children with meaningful protection against malaria.”

The release said the Director of the PATH MVI, Mr David Kaslow, said determining the role of RTS,S in Africa would depend on analyses of additional data.

The Co-founder of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Mr Bill Gates, also indicated that the study was an important scientific milestone, adding, “The efficacy came back lower than we had hoped, but developing a vaccine against a parasite is a very hard thing to do. The trial is continuing and we look forward to getting more data to help determine whether and how to deploy this vaccine.”