Kenya to take part in Phase III malaria vaccine trials

 

Kenya has been included in Phase III of the malaria vaccine clinical trial boosting the country’s bid to eliminate the disease.

It will participate in the trials alongside Tanzania, Mali and Burkina Faso.

The vaccine, R21 has shown to have 77 per cent efficacy after undergoing phase II trials in Burkina Faso among 450 children aged between five to 15 months over a period of 12 months.

The aim is to license a safe, low cost, high 370 efficacy vaccine, which can substantially reduce the malaria disease burden

The phase III trials will see 4,800 children below three years enrolled.

The children in the trial will be given four doses of the vaccine with the results expected to be out in a year.

It however remains unclear which counties will take part in the trials nor when it is expected to start as plans are still being finalized with the respective countries.

“These are very exciting results showing unprecedented efficacy levels from a vaccine that has been well-tolerated in our trial programme,” the trial’s principal investigator Halidou Tinto said. 

The vaccine was developed by Oxford University and India’s Serum Institute.

The study that is yet to be peer-reviewed was published in the Lancet.

Biotechnology company Novavax provided the Matrix-M™ adjuvant for the vaccine, an ingredient that is used to create a stronger immune response.

The World Health Organisation in the recent update to the malaria roadmap called for the development of malaria vaccine candidates with protective efficacy of at least 75 per cent against clinical malaria by 2030.

The world’s first malaria vaccine currently being piloted in Kenya, the RTS, S has shown to have an efficacy of just 55.8 per cent in children aged between five to 17 months over the first year.

It has therefore not yet been prequalified for use by WHO, but instead, a Malaria Vaccine Implementation Programme was launched in three countries including Kenya in 2019.

Others are Ghana and Malawi.

“These significant results support our high expectations for the potential of this vaccine, which included reaching the WHO-stated goal for a malaria vaccine with at least 75 per cent efficacy,” Adrian Hill said.

Hill the author of the study, is the executive director of the Jenner Institute and professor of vaccinology at Oxford University.

“This is an extremely important new tool for controlling malaria and saving many lives. We hope that large scale trials which we hope to start soon will be able to show its safety and efficacy in a larger population,” Hill said.

According to Lancet, the vaccine has the potential for large-scale manufacturing, which will be critical for the supply of hundreds of millions of doses of vaccine required annually for each birth cohort of children in malaria-endemic regions of Africa.

The plan is to have the Serum Institute manufacture at least 200 million doses annually in the coming years.

WHO has dedicated April 25 as World Malaria Day to highlight the need for continued investment and sustained political commitment for malaria prevention and control.

This year’s theme is “Zero Malaria – Draw the Line Against Malaria.”

Malaria is a parasitic disease transmitted when one is bitten by female anopheles mosquitoes.

The disease is estimated to kill more than 435,000 people globally every year, despite being preventable and treatable.

The hardest hit are children aged below five years in Sub Saharan Africa.

Malaria is a leading killer of children younger than five years in Kenya and claims the life of one child every two minutes.

According to CDC, there are an estimated 3.5 million new clinical cases and 10,700 deaths annually.

Some of the counties with high malaria prevalence include Homa Bay, Kilifi, Mombasa, Lamu, Taita Taveta, Kisumu, Siaya, Migori, Vihiga, Kakamega and Bungoma.

On February 17, the Health CS Mutahi Kagwe inaugurated the End Malaria Council and Fund in Nairobi.

“To end malaria for those still at risk, it is important to continuously innovate our approaches to stay ahead of the ever-evolving parasite,” Kagwe said.

President Uhuru Kenyatta who is the chairman of the Africa leaders malaria alliance had called for the establishment of the council to champion malaria control and elimination.   BY THE STAR