Malaria vaccine trials yield positive results

Final clinical trials of a possible world-first licensed vaccine for malaria suggest the jab has the “potential to prevent millions of cases”, researchers have said.

In a report published in the Lancet medical journal, scientists said the drug could make a “substantial contribution” to controlling malaria, which kills hundreds of thousands every year.

An application has already been submitted to the European Medicines Agency (EMA), which along with the World Health Organisation (WHO) will assess the medication being developed by GlaxoSmithKline.

Tests on about 15,500 toddlers and babies in seven sub-Saharan African countries suggested the vaccine, named RTS,S, was about 36 per cent effective for children aged between five and 17 months, but it waned over time and was not as effective in younger children.

The study split the children into three groups, giving one group three doses, another three doses and a booster jab and the third a dummy shot, while monitoring their progress for four years.

The study's author, Brian Greenwood, of the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, admitted the vaccine was not "perfect".

He told reporters: “Everyone accepts that this is not the perfect or the last malaria vaccine. It’s not good enough to stop transmission, but it will cut the huge burden of disease.”

Researchers optimistic

The researchers were optimistic the results would allow the EMA, along with the WHO, to reach a “positive opinion”.

The report said: “RTS,S prevented a substantial number of cases of clinical malaria over a three to four year period in young infants and children when administered with or without a booster dose.

“Efficacy was enhanced by the administration of a booster dose in both age categories. Thus, the vaccine has the potential to make a substantial contribution to malaria control when used in combination with other effective control measures, especially in areas of high transmission.

“The results provided in this phase three trial should help these groups in making their decisions and, if RTS,S is licensed in African countries, help national malaria control programmes in deciding how best to use this vaccine, which, if used correctly, has the potential to prevent millions of cases of malaria.”

The latest WHO figures show there were about 198 million cases of malaria in 2013 and an estimated 584,000 deaths from the disease.

Most fatalities occur among children living in Africa, where a child dies every minute from malaria, and the current most effective prevention measure is a mosquito net.

PA