GABON: Final trials for malaria vaccine set to begin

Record ID: 454425

  • Title: GABON: Final trials for malaria vaccine set to begin
  • Date: 25th April 2009
  • Summary: LAMBARÉNÉ, GABON (RECENT) (REUTERS) VARIOUS OF LAKES VARIOUS OF ALBERT SCHWEITZER HOSPITAL SIGN VARIOUS OF DR. MAXIME AGNANDJI, MEDICAL RESEARCHER, IN LABORATORY (SOUNDBITE) (French) DR. MAXIME AGNANDJI, MEDICAL RESEARCHER, SAYING: "The work includes, for example, informing participants about the study, taking care of the children involved in the study when they are ill, giving the children medical check-ups and vaccinating the children. Basically, we're taking care of the children who participate in the clinical trials." VARIOUS OF AGNANDJI AND DR. JOE COHEN, GLAXOSMITHKLINE, MEETING WITH DONORS AND OTHER MALARIA EXPERTS (SOUNDBITE) (English) DR. JOE COHEN, MEDICAL RESEARCHER, GLAXOSMITHKLINE, SAYING "Fifty-five percent efficacy against such a disease means, again, hundreds of thousands of lives saved every year. It means tens of millions of kids prevented from severe disease. It means many millions of kids, many millions of hospitalizations averted. And all of this has not only a social, human impact but also, of course, a tremendous impact on the public health system in Africa and on the economy."
  • Embargoed: 10th May 2009 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Gabon
  • Country: Gabon
  • Reuters ID: LVAC9H5XX7GNEGZ4NYRNEZ82IH8O
  • Story Text: At the Albert Schweitzer Hospital in the riverside town of Lambaréné, Gabon, medical researchers are gearing up to launch the third and final phase of clinical trials of RTS,S - the world's most advanced malaria vaccine candidate.
    Malaria kills almost 900,000 children in Africa every year, and sickens tens of millions more. The malaria parasite is transmitted by infected mosquitoes and can damage the nervous system, liver and kidneys. Severe cases of malaria can quickly lead to death.
    Sixteen thousand African children under the age of two will be involved in the trials over the next three years, making it the largest clinical trial ever conducted for a malaria vaccine.
    The trials will extend to ten other sites in Mozambique, Ghana, Kenya, Malawi, Tanzania and Burkina Faso, pending approvals.
    Dr. Maxime Agnandji is the principal researcher of the clinical trial in Lambaréné.

    "The work includes, for example, informing participants about a study, taking care of the children in the study when they are ill, giving the children medical check-ups, vaccinating the children - basically, taking care of the children who participate in the clinical trials," said Agnandji.
    Before the trials begin, Agnandji regularly discusses plans with representatives of the vaccine's major sponsors: global pharmaceutical company, GlaxoSmithKline, PATH Malaria Vaccine Initiative (MVI) and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.
    Agnandji and his Gabonese team have been preparing for the third phase of trials since 2007.
    The group is hoping the vaccine will be about 55 percent effective in children. With a parasite as complex as malaria, creating a vaccine with 100 percent efficacy is difficult.
    Dr. Joe Cohen from GlaxoSmithKline is one of the vaccine's original creators, and has been working on it for 22 years.

    "Fifty-five percent efficacy against such a disease means, again, hundreds of thousands of lives saved every year. It means tens of millions of kids prevented from severe disease. It means many millions of kids, many millions of hospitalizations averted. And all of this has not only a social, human impact but also, of course, a tremendous impact on the public health system in Africa and on the economy," said Cohen.
    Previous trials of RTS,S in Mozambique, Ghana, Gabon, Kenya and Tanzania have been largely successful and showed that clinical cases of malaria could be significantly reduced over several years.
    If the third and final stage of trials also go well, the vaccine will be submitted to regulatory authorities for market approval in 2011 and could be on sale by 2012.
    The price of the vaccine has not yet been determined, but its promoters say funding through the Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunization (GAVI) and the Global Fund Against AIDS, Malaria and TB (GFATM) could make it free for African mothers.
    World Malaria Day is on April 25.
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