An experimental vaccine from GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) has been reported to decrease the risk of malaria by half in African children aged five to 17-months old in final-stage trial data of a major clinical trial. Researchers who analyzed data from the first 6000 children in this ongoing trial found that after 12 months of follow-up, three doses of RTS,S (or Mosquirix) reduced the risk of children experiencing clinical malaria and severe malaria by 56% and 47%, respectively. Results in babies aged six to 12 weeks are expected within a year and, if all goes well, GSK believes the vaccine could reach the market in 2015. While hailing an unprecedented achievement, experts stress that the vaccine is no quick fix for eradicating malaria. The new vaccine is less effective against malaria than other vaccines are against common infections such as polio and measles. “We would have wished that we could wipe it out, but I think this is going to contribute to the control of malaria rather than wiping it out,” said Tsiri Agbenyega, a principal investigator in the RTS,S trials in Ghana.
