New Vaccine To Prevent Malaria Will Debut In 2019

By Rohana Nasrah & Iman Pratama Bermawi KUALA LUMPUR, March 7 (Bernama) -- Come 2019, the world will see the first vaccine to prevent the malaria disease. Called the Plasmodium falciparum sporozoite (PfSPZ), it is produced by Sanaria Inc, the malaria expert and bio-tech organisasion based in Maryland, the United States. Its chief executive-cum-scientific officer Dr Stephen L. Hoffman said the PfSPZ was believed to be able to reduce 90 per cent of malaria cases, as well as serve as the best prevention to the disease. Currently, he said, the PfSPZ was subjected to clinical testing in some countries, including Africa, United States, Europe and Germany. "We need to obtain approval from the Food and Drugs Administration from the United States so that we can distribute this vaccine to other countries. "We think this could be the first vaccine to eliminate (malaria disease), if this vaccine is given to a population...maybe, it can wipe out (the) malaria (disease)," he said, adding that research and development of the vaccine first began in 2003, using a US$110 million fund. He was speaking to reporters on the sideline of the second day of the Sixth Asean Congress of Tropical Medicine and Parasitology here Thursday. Themed, 'Global Challenges in Tropical Diseases: Bridging Gaps and Building Partnerships', the congress which was organised by the Malaysian Society of Parasitology and Tropical Medicine (MSPTM) in conjunction with its golden jubilee, was attended by 420 representatives from 43 countries. The three-day congress which began Wednesday, provides real-world experience from speakers and peers, based on current challenges facing Malaysia and other countries due to the changing dynamics of disease transmission and epidemiology in the tropics. Among tropical diseases discussed in the congress included dengue and malaria. Dr Hoffman hoped his organisation could achieve its goal of accomplishing 80 per cent efficiency for the PfSPZ vaccine before 2025. Meanwhile, Sanaria Inc executive vice-president (process development and manufacturing) Dr B. Kim Lee Sim said the vaccine was made from a sterile mosquito which did not have any micro-organism. She said the mosquito, bred in a sterile flask, would be fed with infected blood containing plasmodium falciparum - which had already been sterilised - to weaken the parasites. "Following this, samples are collected from the salivary glands of the sterile mosquito and treated to weaken the sporozoites before purification," she added. In another development, Universiti Malaysia Sarawak's Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences (malaria research centre) director Prof Dr Balbir Singh described it as "very exciting" on what the organisation (Sanaria Inc) had undertaken, and hoped the clinical trial would ensure that it was effective to prevent the malaria disease. "It's really a good approach since people have been looking for a malaria vaccine for many years," he noted. --BERNAMA