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Malaria vaccine to be available in 2015

Malria MosquitoTanzania is set to introduce the first generation of a malaria vaccine that has protective efficacy of more than 50 per cent against the number-one killer disease in the country

By George Sembony, PST



Tanzania is set to introduce the first generation of a malaria vaccine that has protective efficacy of more than 50 per cent against the number-one killer disease in the country in eight years` time.


According to a local malaria researcher in charge of clinical trials (IHRDC) in Bagamoyo District, Dr Salim Abdulla, the new generation of malaria vaccine would be licensed and marketed in 2015.


Dr Abdulla made the revelation in Dar es Salaam recently when he presented a paper titled: `Malaria Vaccine and Clinical Trials Study` undertaken in Bagamoyo, Coast Region, and Korogwe, in Tanga Region, at a journalists` workshop on malaria vaccine coverage.


He informed that the vaccine would come on the market after being approved by regulatory authorities, noting that the study had left only one stage before it was submitted for licensing approval for the market.


According to Dr Abdulla, the malaria vaccine is feasible and can weaken parasites, protect from infection and is at the same time able to impact on the disease.


Until now we dont have a malaria vaccine. It takes a lot of money and time, at least ten years, for an average vaccine to come on the market… you are talking about USD500m in research and development, said Dr Abdalla, adding that producing a vaccine is both costly and time consuming in that it involves a number of stages before it is approved for general use.


More than 400 hundred people were vaccinated in Korogwe during the malaria vaccine trial, he said.


He said the ongoing additional trials conducted on infants and young children, the most vulnerable groups and those who would benefit most from an effective malaria vaccine are based on the successful trial in Mozambique.


He proceeded: If the Phase II trials are successful, the partners would proceed to large scale Phase III trials to fully determine the efficacy of the vaccine, Dr Abdullah said, adding that if all goes well, the RTS, S vaccine could be submitted for licensure as early as 2010.


As for the Korogwe site, the Director of NIMR, Tanga Centre, Dr Martha Lemnge said that vaccination was delayed because of delay in getting the necessary permits, but the screening has been completed while vaccination of the dose one started on April 14, this year.


Dr Lemnge said that 578 children were screened and 471 were found to be eligible for the trial.


All study participants would have received three vaccine doses by the end of July, this year, she said.
Speaking specifically on Bagamoyo trials, Dr Abdullah said that 340 kids would participate in the trial and the centre has screened 690 mothers.


He said that 526 mothers delivered and 356 infants were screened while 321 kids were vaccinated dose one, 262 kids dose two and 199 dose three. Next month would be the end of enrollment of kids into the trials.


He said commencement of Phase II Malaria Vaccine Clinical trials in Tanzania and four other African countries has been described here as a tremendous success, proving that African research institutes now have the capacity to conduct the trials.


Other countries conducting such research are Mozambique, Gabon, Ghana and Kenya.


For his part, the Communication Officer of the PATH Malaria Vaccine Initiative (PATH-MVI), David Poland said during the that many people thought that this level of trials could not be done in Africa. Such trials were in the past conducted outside the continent.


Local institutions conducting the vaccine clinical trials are the Ifakara Health Research and Development Centre (IHRDC) and the National Institute for Medical Research (NIMR), Tanga Centre.


The PATH MVI is a global programme established through an initial grant of USD50m from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation with a mission to accelerate the development of promising malaria vaccines and ensure their availability and accessibility in the developing world.


It has since been awarded an additional USD207.6m from the foundation, including USD107.6m to complete development of the RTS, S vaccine.


According to the Dr Abdullah the malaria vaccine candidate development follows a number of steps starting with Research and pre-clinical development that identifies relevant antigens and creates the vaccine concept.


After that, he said Phase I clinical trials follows to establish the safety and measures immune response in malaria.


According to Dr Abdullah malaria vaccine clinical evaluation of the RTS, S began in adults in the US and Belgium in 1992.


According to an MVI fact sheet results of a trial of more than 2000 children started in 2003 in southern Mozambique, demonstrated the feasibility of malaria vaccine in children.


Findings from the trial published in 2004 and 2005 in the medical journal The Lancet showed that RTS, S was effective for at least 18 months in reducing clinical malaria by 35 per cent and severe malaria by 49 per cent, thus establishing the vaccine as the most advanced malaria vaccine candidate.


Source: Guardian

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