As the disease of malaria rages on globally – a child is dying every minute, new data on malaria vaccines is giving hope in the fight against the disease. New data from Oxford University boosts global efforts against the mosquito-borne virus. Despite spending about $3 billion annually on insecticides, mosquito nets and anti-malarial drugs, the disease kills about 600,000 people each year.
Oxford scientist Adrian Hill reported that the vaccine R21/Matrix-M is more effective than Mosquirix, a vaccine recently endorsed by Oxford University. WHOManufactured by British pharmaceutical manufacturer GSK.
The scientist also cited a manufacturing advantage for the Oxford vaccine as a deal with the Serum Institute of India To produce 200 million doses annually from 2023.
Meanwhile, Mosquirix manufacturer GSK has committed to producing 15 million doses of the vaccine each year by 2028, which is just under 100 million doses of the four-dose vaccine. The WHO believes that the vaccine is needed over a long period of time to cover about 25 million children.
More international donations are expected to GSK to expand production of the essential vaccine.
Data from the R21/Matrix-M mid-stage study were published Wednesday and conducted on more than 400 young children who received their fourth dose of vaccine after three primary doses.
“A booster dose of R21/Matrix-M at 1 year following the primary three-dose regimen maintained high efficacy against first and multiple episodes of clinical malaria. In addition, booster vaccine-induced antibody concentrations correlated with vaccine efficacy The trial is ongoing. To assess the value of long-term follow-up of these participants and further booster vaccinations,” said the explanation of the report, published in the Lancet.
After 12 months of the fourth dose, the vaccine’s effectiveness was 80% in the group that had received a higher dose of the vaccine’s immune-boosting adjuvant component. The vaccine effectiveness was 70% in the low-dose adjuvant group.
Interestingly, the doses were given before the peak malaria season in Burkina Faso.
Adrian Hill also pointed out that the complex structure and lifecycle of the malaria parasite has long thwarted any attempt to develop an effective vaccine. GSK’s Mosquirix was conceived in 1980 and paved the way for the University of Oxford to develop a more robust malaria vaccine.
As data is still out of the ongoing Phase III trial for the Oxford Shot, involving 4800 participants, a comparison between the two vaccines is not possible.
Late-stage trials of Mosquirix also show promising results when vaccinated before the peak malaria season in areas with high transmission. The effectiveness of the vaccine was about 63%.
“Administration of RTS, S/AS01E (Mosquirix) was non-inferior to chemoprevention in preventing uncomplicated malaria. The combination of these interventions resulted in a significantly reduced incidence of uncomplicated malaria, severe malaria, and malaria death compared with the intervention alone ” The study published in The New England Journal of Medicine said.
“At this stage the comparison between the two vaccines should be tentative, as they have not yet been compared face-to-face in the same trial,” said David Conway from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine.
Alister Craig from the Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine also clarified that Phase II trials indicate the Oxford shot is a step ahead of Mosquirix and has improved efficacy with better retention of immunity.
Oxford will soon submit Phase III data to the WHO, hoping to get support by next year.
With inputs from Reuters.
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