Scientists raise hope of new life-saving malaria vaccine

 
29 October 2013

Efforts to find a heat-resistant malaria vaccine able to be used across Africa were boosted today.

The aim is to develop a drug that can be used in hot, remote areas without having to be constantly refrigerated.

There are 660,000 malaria deaths a year, mostly children in sub-Saharan Africa, and 22 million are without access to life-saving vaccines.

A $1.8 million (£1.1 million) partnership was announced between London-based drugs firm GlaxoSmithKline and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation for research into the “thermostability” of GSK’s new vaccine in development, RTS,S.

The need to keep vaccines cold is a significant challenge in hot, poor regions. Breaking the requirement for a “cold chain” is vital to developing anti-malarials across the developing world.

Details of the project were announced today at the Gates Foundation’s meeting in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. GSK researchers will explore how to make adjuvants — a critical component of some vaccines —more heat stable.

A breakthrough with the RTS,S drug could also herald benefits with HIV and tuberculosis vaccines.

Trials of RTS,S have almost halved the number of children aged five to 17 months with malaria. If approved, the drug could be available from 2015.

Trevor Mundel, president of global health at the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, said: “Vaccines are one of the most powerful tools to save lives.

“This partnership with GSK will help drive development efforts to overcome persistent global health challenges.”

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