New Malaria Vaccine For Release, Next Year

A new malaria vaccine is to be released next year after trials have shown 80 percent success, scientists from University of Oxford have said.
Experts say the breakthrough is “ world changing” as the vaccine is cheap with new deal  to manufacture more than 100 million doses a year.
The Charity Malaria No More , a non governmental body said recent progress meant children dying from malaria could end “in our lifetimes”.
It has taken more than a century to develop effective vaccines as the malaria parasite, which is spread by mosquitoes, is spectacularly complex and elusive. It is a constantly moving target, shifting forms inside the body, which make it hard to immunise against.
Last year, the World Health Organization gave the historic go-ahead for the first vaccine, developed by pharmaceutical giant GSK, to be used in Africa.
However, the Oxford team claim their approach is more effective and can be manufactured on a far greater scale.
Trial results from 409 children in Nanoro, Burkina Faso, have been published in the Lancet Infectious Diseases. It shows three initial doses followed by a booster a year later gives up to 80% protection.
“We think these data are the best data yet in the field with any malaria vaccine,” said Prof. Adrian Hill, director of the Jenner Institute at the university.
The team will start the process of getting their vaccine approved in the next few weeks, but a final decision will hinge on the results of a larger trial of 4,800 children due before the end of the year.
The world’s largest vaccine manufacturer – the Serum Institute of India – is already lined up to make more than 100 million doses a year.
Prof. Hill said the vaccine called R21 could be made for “a few dollars” and “we really could be looking at a very substantial reduction in that horrendous burden of malaria”.
He added: “We hope that this will be deployed and available and saving lives, certainly by the end of next year.”
Malaria has been one of the biggest scourges on humanity for millennia and mostly kills babies and infants. The disease still kills more than 400,000 people a year even after dramatic progress with bed nets, insecticides and drugs.