RTS,S is the most advanced malaria vaccine candidate in development globally.
Created in 1987 by scientists working at GSK laboratories, the Walter Reed Army Institute of Research
collaborated with GSK to develop and test during early clinical development of the malaria vaccine candidate.
In January 2001, GSK and PATH, with research funding from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to PATH and from the DoD's
Military Infectious Disease Research Program at the US Army Medical Research and Materiel Command,
entered into a public-private partnership to develop an RTS,S-based vaccine for infants and young children
living in malaria-endemic regions in sub-Saharan Africa.
A European Medicines Agency (EMA) committee has given a positive recommendation for RTS,S, known as Mosquirix. While the efficacy
rates seem low at 46% efficient in generating an immune response, this vaccine is the only one currently available that can and will
save a significant number of lives. There is room to improve but this is big news that has been decades in the works.
WRAIR is excited about the success of RTS,S. The antigen targets our scientists discovered and the adjuvant formulations from WRAIR
reformulated at GSK have a critical role in this vaccine's success. We are proud of our overseas lab in Kenya, USAMRU-K,
for their participation as one of the Phase III testing sites in GSK's recent clinical trials. We are eager to continue
leading the fight against this deadly and debilitating disease in support of Service Members deploying to countries with
malaria infections and collaborating for more progress in eradicating malaria as a global security threat.
//* Scanning electron micrograph of a female Anopheles mosquito, a known malaria carrier. Photograph: Alamy. Originally use in
Guardian
article "First malaria vaccine given green light by European regulators" *//
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