EA to take part in historic malaria vaccine trials

East Africa is among regions that have been put on a malaria vaccine trial as world scientists frantically seek a lasting solution to the world’s leading killer disease.

Named RTTS and developed by GlaxoSmithkline, the vaccine is being tested in seven African countries — Burkina Faso, Gabon, Ghana, Kenya, Malawi, Mozambique and Tanzania — by the Path Malaria Vaccine Initiative.

A third of the 16,000 targeted children have already received the jab, according to researchers attending the 5th Multilateral Initiative on Malaria Pan-African Malaria Conference held in Nairobi recently.

A malaria vaccine has eluded scientists for decades, yet it is widely believed that only a vaccine can help eradicate the disease.

If successful, the vaccine will complement existing interventions, such as treated bednets and effective drug therapies.

“A malaria vaccine could help save countless lives and redefine the future for Africa’s children,” said Dr Patricia Njuguna, chair of the Clinical Trials Partnership Committee, a collaboration of African research institutions, the Malaria Vaccine Initiative and GSK.

The latter is leading the clinical development of the initiative.

RTSS is the first vaccine designed primarily for use in Africa, where malaria kills more than 800,000 people every year, the majority of them children under the age of five.

By conducting the trial in seven geographically diverse countries in sub-Saharan Africa, researchers will be able to evaluate the vaccine’s efficacy in a variety of settings, with diverse patterns of transmission.

For example, some trial sites are located in areas where there is a year-round threat of malaria, while others experience only seasonal transmission.

This is a tremendous moment in the fight against malaria and the culmination of more than two decades of research, including 10 years of clinical trials in Africa,” said Dr Joe Cohen, co-inventor of RTSS and vice president of Research and Development, Vaccines for Emerging Diseases and HIV, at GSK.

The Phase III trial will evaluate the vaccine’s efficacy in two groups of children.

One group, aged six to 12 weeks, will be vaccinated as part of their regular schedule of infant immunisations; the second group includes children aged five to 17 months.

The vaccine profile is intended primarily for infants, as they and children under the age of five are the most vulnerable to malaria.

If the Phase III programme progresses as expected, RTSS could be submitted for regulatory review under Article 58 as early as 2012.