Malaria vaccine successfully tested

Malaria vaccine reduces the risk of infection by 50 percent

10/20/2011

Researchers have been testing a malaria vaccine for two years. At the Albert Schweitzer Hospital in the city of Lambarene in Gabon, Africa, the novel vaccine is being tested on children and infants. The Tübingen tropical physician Prof. Peter Kremsner, who heads the research center in Gabon, reports about a 50% success rate of the malaria vaccine.

For over 30 years, researchers worldwide have been looking for a malaria vaccine. As part of a comprehensive study, a malaria vaccine has been tested for two years, far removed from full malaria protection, but with a success rate of around 50 percent, it could still save hundreds of thousands of lives. In the course of the 2014 study, 16,000 children and infants will receive the new drug. Now the scientists have presented the first interim results to the tropical physician Prof. Peter Kremsner after two years of study.

Up to 500 million malaria infections annually
Malaria is still one of the most feared infectious diseases worldwide. Every year, according to the World Health Organization (WHO), between 300 and 500 million people suffer from malaria. About one million of these diseases are fatal, with around 90 percent of all malaria infections affecting the African continent, according to WHO figures. According to the World Health Organization, a child worldwide dies of malaria every 30 seconds or so. The research of a vaccine has therefore been the focus of research for decades. But so far, most drugs have been found to be relatively inefficient. The malaria vaccine, which has now been investigated in the context of the current study, was a clear exception with a predicted success rate of 30 to 50 percent. Since 2010, the active ingredient has been tested in practice. The first interim evaluation of the data of 6,000 subjects presented after two years showed, according to Dr. Benjamin Mordmüller, a physician at the Tübingen Tropical Institute, said malaria protection at the vaccination even reached 56 percent and was thus more efficient than assumed in the run-up to the study.

Malaria vaccine could save hundreds of thousands of lives
Although the tropical physicians explained that a much higher success rate for malaria vaccine protection would be desirable, they were quite satisfied with the effectiveness achieved so far. Because with one million malaria deaths per year, the vaccine could save more than 500,000 lives annually, according to the researchers. As Prof. Peter Kremsner emphasized, the current data is a milestone in the fight against malaria and could usher in a new era in dealing with the disease. However, Kremsner also hopes for improved vaccination protection for future generations of the malaria vaccine. The current study will run until 2014, and only after the evaluation of all data collected, can the vaccine be approved by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and Europe (European Medicines Agency, EMA). Benjamin Mordmüller from the Tübingen Tropical Institute explained. Why the approval of the drug in Europe and the United States is required for the time being, but where the main area of ​​application in Africa will lie, is not clear from the explanations of tropical medicine.

The malaria vaccine is currently being tested in children between the ages of five and 14 months and in infants between six and 12 weeks of age. According to the researchers, the aim is to introduce the malaria vaccine as the standard vaccine for children in areas with high malaria risk. Because in the tropics, the infectious disease is still one of the leading cause of death in infants. The research of the malaria vaccine is funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and, as a partner from the pharmaceutical industry, the company Glaxo Smith Kline is involved in the research.

Explore alternatives to malaria vaccination
Although the current research results are certainly a success, but given the still relatively modest success rate of the malaria vaccine, the study of alternatives to protect against malaria and the development of effective treatment methods against the infectious disease urgently needs to be further promoted. In the process, US researchers from the Georgia Institute of Technology have recently discovered a special species of red algae as a potential weapon against malaria. The chemical compounds of the rare red algae are the data of the research team to Julia Kubanek of the Georgia Institute of Technology as a herbal active against the malaria pathogens „Plasmodium falciparum“. The chemical compounds of the red algae have not only successfully destroyed the malaria pathogens in laboratory tests, but also showed significant success in other infectious diseases, the US scientists reported earlier this year. Thus, the ingredients of the rare red alga Callophycus serratus, generally have an antimicrobial effect, which is particularly efficient not only against malaria but also against the dangerous so-called hospital germs, methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA), said Julia Kubanek. (Fp)

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Picture: Gerd Altmann
(The picture is a model-tracing)