Effective vaccine against malaria a very real possibility

The preliminary results of a malaria vaccine trial in African infants show that the vaccine gave a high level of protection and was also safe.

The results bring the possibility of a vaccine against one of the developing world's biggest killers much closer.

Malaria is caused by a parasite carried by mosquitoes; it kills more than 1 million people every year and makes 300 million seriously ill.

In Africa alone a child dies from malaria every 30 seconds, and an effective vaccine against malaria given as part of routine infant immunization, would save many lives and is the best hope in fighting the disease.

Although there are many vaccines which fight viruses and bacteria this will be the first vaccine against a parasitic infection in humans.

The prototype vaccine was developed and trialled over a 20 year period but this is the first time it has been tested on babies who are the most vulnerable of all age groups.

The relatively small study involved 214 infants, aged 10 to 18 weeks, in Mozambique and the researchers say the results are still early and they are cautious about interpreting the data.

However the vaccine appears to be safe and also highly protective as three months after they received the vaccine the infants were 65% less likely to contract malaria than a control group, a reduction of 35% over six months.

The trial vaccine is the result of a partnership between several African nations, the pharmaceutical industry and the PATH Malaria Vaccine Initiative (MVI).

Christian Loucq, the director of MVI, says the results offer another green light in the move towards a large Phase 3 trial of the vaccine which will begin next year in ten sites across sub-Saharan Africa and involve 10,000 thousand children.

If the vaccine, Mosquirix, proves to be successful it will be licensed in 2011 and represents a significant step in the fight against malaria.

Dr. Joe Cohen, of GlaxoSmithKline, who has spent 20 years on the project says the complexity of the disease has meant creating a malaria vaccine has been a huge challenge.

Glaxo has promised to sell Mosquirix at a low price to developing countries; the company has spent $300 million developing Mosquirix and expects to spend another $50 million to $100 million in future.

Mosquirix is given in three doses and targets just one stage in the malaria parasite's life cycle.

The success of the vaccine has been a surprise to some scientists, and suggests an improved vaccine, which targets multiple elements in the life cycle, might be even more effective.

Microsoft billionaire Bill Gates who has given hundreds of millions of dollars to malaria vaccine and treatment programmes, speaking in Seattle to a meeting of 300 scientists and policymakers, has called on global leaders to embrace "an audacious goal - to reach a day when no human being has malaria, and no mosquito on earth is carrying it."

The research is published online by the Lancet.