The world's first malaria vaccine cleared one of its final hurdles as it received a positive review from the European Medicines Agency today after 30 years of research by GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) and the PATH Malaria Vaccine Initiative.
The next step for the drug will be to have it examined by the World Health Organization (WHO). Afterwards, individual countries will need to give their final approval before it can be administered to children, according to The Economic Times.
Trials revealed that the vaccine, called RTS.S or Mosquirix, is most effective in newborn children between the ages of five and 17 months, and slashed the number of malaria cases almost in half. The number of cases in infants between six and 12 weeks old was cut by 27 percent.
Malaria is spread through bites from mosquitoes carrying parasites called plasmodia.
It's noted that its ability to protect from milaria infection begins to fade after a year, but when combined with current preventative efforts, researchers think it will be effective at reducing malaria cases and deaths.
"While RTS.S on its own is not the complete answer to malaria. Its use alongside those interventions currently available such as bed nets and insecticides would provide a very meaningful contribution to controlling the impact of malaria on children in those African communities that need it the most." Andrew Witty, chief executive of GlaxoSmithKline, said in a press release.
Malaria killed around 584,000 people in 2013, 90 percent of the deaths occuring in sub-Saharan Africa. Of those victims, 83 percent were children under the age of five.
The WHO lists malaria as the fifth biggest killer in sub-Saharan Africa.
The PATH Malaria Vaccine Initiative is funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, which allocated more than $200 million to the project. GSK said it has spent more than $365 million on the effort and it will not make a profit from the vaccine. Its price would cover the manufacturing costs and a small return that would be reinvested in malaria research, according to CNN.
The vaccine is not yet licensed in countries where malaria is endemic, and the WHO says the soonest that could happen is 2017.
