Malaria vaccine candidate first to reach WHO goal with 77% efficacy A Phase 2b trial for the University of Oxford’s malaria vaccine candidate showed 77% efficacy in children, according to a study published in The Lancet. ‘We believe this vaccine could have a major public health impact’, say researchers.
The vaccine candidate, R21, has been developed by the University of Oxford in collaboration with the Serum Institute of India, using Novavax’ Matrix-M adjuvant.
The phase 2b study included 450 children aged 5-17 months in Burkina Faso. A Phase 3 clinical trial has now begun in 4,800 participants aged 5-36 months.
Many malaria vaccine candidates - but only one that reaches WHO goals
(Pixabay)
In the middle of a new pandemic, it’s all too easy to forget older epidemics that have killed and continue to kill millions, with poor drug therapies and a weak vaccine.
Scientists at the University of Oxford, which already helped develop alongside AstraZeneca a COVID-19 vaccine, are now hoping to change that. This week it released new data showing its malaria vaccine had a 77% efficacy, the first time in a controlled trial such a shot has hit over the World Health Organization’s threshold of achieving 75% efficacy or more.
Malaria has blighted the world for millennia; in the previous century alone, the parasitic disease coming from mosquitoes claimed between 150 million and 300 million lives, accounting for 2% to 5% of all deaths. The epidemics are most harshly felt in sub-Saharan Africa, Asia, the Amazon basin and other tropical regions.