In 2011, the results of a Phase III clinical trial of the RTS,S vaccine candidate in children aged 5 to 17 months showed that three doses of RTS,S reduced the risk of clinical malaria by 56% and of severe malaria by 47%. New results following the vaccination of infants aged 6 to 12 weeks show the vaccine to be moderately effective, producing a 31% reduction in the risk of malaria in this population. These findings, which have been published online in the New England Journal of Medicine (NEJM), were announced today at the International African Vaccinology Conference (VACFA) in South Africa.
Efficacy and safety was monitored for 12 months in 6.537 infants aged 6 to 12 weeks on enrolment. The RTS,S vaccine was coadministered alongside the vaccines routinely given to infants at 2, 3 and 4 months of age. The trial is ongoing in eleven research centres in seven sub-Saharan African countries, including the Manhiça Health Research Centre in Mozambique, founded in 1996 with the support of the Hospital Clínic - IDIBAPS de Barcelona under the leadership of Dr Pedro Alonso.
Information via: ISGlobal