World's First Malaria Vaccine Moves Closer To Use In Africa; Fast Working, Single Dose Malaria Drug Developed

The world's first malaria vaccine – made by GlaxoSmithKline – could be approved by international regulators for use in Africa from October after final trial data showed it offered partial protection for up to four years.

The shot, called RTS,S and designed for children in Africa, would be the first licensed human vaccine against a parasitic disease and could help prevent millions of cases of malaria, which currently kills more than 600,000 people a year.

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Experts have long hoped scientists would be able to develop an effective malaria vaccine, and researchers at the British drug maker GSK have been working on RTS,S for 30 years.

Hopes that this shot would be the final answer to wiping out malaria were dampened when trial data released in 2011 and 2012 showed it only reduced episodes of malaria in babies aged six to 12 weeks old by 27%, and by around 46% in children aged five to 17 months old.

But the final stage follow-up data published in the Lancet journal on Friday (24 April) showed vaccinated children continued to be protected four years on, albeit at a declining rate – an important factor given the prevalence of the disease – and rates of protection were stronger with a booster shot.

Brian Greenwood, a professor at the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine who worked on the study, said that despite the falling efficacy over time, there was still a clear benefit from RTS,S.

He said an average 1,363 cases of clinical malaria were prevented over four years for every 1,000 children vaccinated, or 1,774 cases with a booster shot – the children would normally be expected to have had several cases of infection over that period.

In babies, over three years of follow-up, an average 558 cases were prevented for every 1,000 vaccinated, and 983 cases in those who got a booster.

Fast working malaria drug developed that works against resistant strains

Myanmar has become a breeding ground for drug-resistant strains of diseases such as malaria and tuberculosis. The mosquito-borne disease has killed about 584,000 people in 2013, mostly in Africa, according to the World Health Organization.(Reuters)

Meanwhile in another development a fast working, single dose malaria drug developed by scientists based in Bangalore has proved to be safe and effective in a series of tests on animals.

The drug Triaminopyrimidine (TAP) is predicted to have a half-life of 36 hours in humans, allowing for a single, effective dose.

The drug is said to work against drug resistant strains of the malaria pathogen and has no known side-effects. After a few more lab tests, it will go for clinical trials in humans.

Vasan Sambandamurthy, a senior author of the study told Times of India: "It's a fast-killing and long-acting antimalarial clinical candidate. TAP acts exclusively on the blood stage of Plasmodium falciparum (the stage responsible for clinical symptoms) in a relevant mouse model. This candidate is equally active against causative agent Plasmodium vivax."

Existing drugs have a limited effect in humans with a half-life of not more than two hours. It is after that period that the parasites gain strength. This calls for more doses to deal with the infection.

Funded by Medicine for Malaria Venture, the research was mostly done at AstraZeneca's Bangalore centre between 2011 and 2014, and with support from GlaxoSmithKline, Columbia University and Harvard School of Public Health.

Drug-resistant malaria is a cause of concern at present with resistance growing against the combination therapy based on artemisinin, a Chinese herb derivative.

Drug-resistant malaria

Recent detection of artemisinin-resistant strains of the pathogen at the Myanmar-India border raised fears of a threat to millions across the globe if the resistance spreads across the border.

Deaths from mosquito-borne malaria have nearly halved since 2000, but the infection still killed about 584,000 people in 2013, mostly in Africa, according to the World Health Organization (WHO).

Back in the last century, chloroquine saved hundreds of millions of lives, but resistance was discovered in 1957. It was then replaced by sulphadoxine-pyrimethamine (SP), but resistance to SP also soon emerged in western Cambodia and spread to Africa.

SP was replaced by artemisinin combination treatment, or ACT.

Given the quick development of resistance among the parasites, work is in progress to develop a vaccine.

Rise in temperature across the globe has seen the malaria transmitting mosquito take residence in new regions of the world like UK and parts of Europe raising concern.