A new and efficient
vaccine is promising to wipe out the killer disease malaria from the
face of the earth after undergoing successful clinical trial.
Chief Executive Officer of Sanaria, Stephen Hoffman, that the Phase I clinical trial of its PfSPZ vaccine, an investigational vaccine aimed at protecting humans against malaria was successful. He said the vaccine had successfully protected all subjects during the trial from developing malaria.
The study was conducted by researchers of Sanaria, a company dedicated solely to the purpose of developing vaccines to treat malaria. The results of the study were published online in the August 8 issue of Sciencemagazine. “While we’re still in the early stages of testing, we believe this vaccine will be used to eliminate malaria.
It’s reasonable to suggest that within three-to-five years, a safe, reliable vaccine could be a commercial reality and provide medical benefit to a huge population….These results show that we have a safe, successful, injectable vaccine that has the potential to save millions of lives” Hoffman said.
During the first phase of the trial, human volunteers were administered with doses of the PfSPZ vaccine, which contains live, weakened malaria parasites that do not cause illness, after exposing them to malaria-infected mosquitoes. Out of the 40 participants, six received the highest dosage available and did not develop malaria.
Over the last 30 years, several attempts have been made to produce an effective malaria vaccine to stop the mortality and morbidity rates brought about by the Plasmodium falciparum parasite causing the disease; but all these have been to no avail as no fewer than 600,000 lives are lost as a result of it every year.
Transmitted by infected mosquitoes, malaria still poses the biggest threat to many African countries like Nigeria. Of the 219 million malaria cases reported in 2010, 40 per cent occurred in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, India and Nigeria. That same year, 91 per cent of the deaths caused by malaria were in Africa with 86 per cent of them being that of children under the age of five.
Presently, six countries account for 47 percent of malaria cases in Africa, an estimated 103 million. These countries include Nigeria, Democratic Republic of the Congo, United Republic of Tanzania, Uganda, Mozambique and Cote d’Ivoire. With 3.3 billion people (half of the world population) being at risk of the deadly health condition, the next phase of clinical trials has already been scheduled to be conducted in order to avert this.
The trial will take place at Tanzania’s Ifakara Health institute. This will subsequently be followed by trials in Europe and the United States. Representatives of the producing company, Sanaria, however say they are confident that the vaccine will be approved for use.
“This great advance in the development of a whole parasite vaccine immediately opens up important opportunities for immunization studies in malaria endemic countries,” chief executive director of Tanzania’s Ifakara Health Institute, Salim Abdullah, said.
Chief Executive Officer of Sanaria, Stephen Hoffman, that the Phase I clinical trial of its PfSPZ vaccine, an investigational vaccine aimed at protecting humans against malaria was successful. He said the vaccine had successfully protected all subjects during the trial from developing malaria.
The study was conducted by researchers of Sanaria, a company dedicated solely to the purpose of developing vaccines to treat malaria. The results of the study were published online in the August 8 issue of Sciencemagazine. “While we’re still in the early stages of testing, we believe this vaccine will be used to eliminate malaria.
It’s reasonable to suggest that within three-to-five years, a safe, reliable vaccine could be a commercial reality and provide medical benefit to a huge population….These results show that we have a safe, successful, injectable vaccine that has the potential to save millions of lives” Hoffman said.
During the first phase of the trial, human volunteers were administered with doses of the PfSPZ vaccine, which contains live, weakened malaria parasites that do not cause illness, after exposing them to malaria-infected mosquitoes. Out of the 40 participants, six received the highest dosage available and did not develop malaria.
Over the last 30 years, several attempts have been made to produce an effective malaria vaccine to stop the mortality and morbidity rates brought about by the Plasmodium falciparum parasite causing the disease; but all these have been to no avail as no fewer than 600,000 lives are lost as a result of it every year.
Transmitted by infected mosquitoes, malaria still poses the biggest threat to many African countries like Nigeria. Of the 219 million malaria cases reported in 2010, 40 per cent occurred in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, India and Nigeria. That same year, 91 per cent of the deaths caused by malaria were in Africa with 86 per cent of them being that of children under the age of five.
Presently, six countries account for 47 percent of malaria cases in Africa, an estimated 103 million. These countries include Nigeria, Democratic Republic of the Congo, United Republic of Tanzania, Uganda, Mozambique and Cote d’Ivoire. With 3.3 billion people (half of the world population) being at risk of the deadly health condition, the next phase of clinical trials has already been scheduled to be conducted in order to avert this.
The trial will take place at Tanzania’s Ifakara Health institute. This will subsequently be followed by trials in Europe and the United States. Representatives of the producing company, Sanaria, however say they are confident that the vaccine will be approved for use.
“This great advance in the development of a whole parasite vaccine immediately opens up important opportunities for immunization studies in malaria endemic countries,” chief executive director of Tanzania’s Ifakara Health Institute, Salim Abdullah, said.
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