Doctors are making big strides against an age-old killer: 'We are excited'
A new one-dose malaria vaccine has demonstrated 90% protection against the disease, which kills more than half a million people globally each year.
News Medical Life Sciences reported on Sanaria's PfSPZ-LARC2 vaccine, which uses genetically weakened parasites that replicate in the liver but halt progression before reaching the blood stage to ensure that vaccinated individuals do not experience malaria-related symptoms.
Clinical trials of PfSPZ are scheduled to start this year in the U.S., Germany, and Burkina Faso, with hopes for global deployment in the next three years.
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The vaccine comes at a critical moment. Scientists say warming global temperatures are creating the perfect conditions for mosquito populations to thrive and expand, increasing the risk of vector-borne diseases such as malaria, Zika, and dengue.
For instance, malaria risk zones have reached higher elevations in the Ethiopian Highlands due to rising temperatures, according to Climate.gov. Meanwhile, a recent study predicted that several mosquito species' populations will expand their ranges in North and South America in the coming years thanks to warming weather trends.
Though considered a breakthrough, the new malaria vaccine isn't the first. A pilot program testing a GSK-produced vaccine in Africa resulted in a 13% decrease in deaths due to this disease among young children over a four-year period. In early 2024, Cameroon became the first nation to launch a mass vaccination campaign against malaria.
Sanaria CEO Stephen L. Hoffman said the company's new PfSPZ-LARC2 vaccine is "expected to be our flagship going forward," according to News Medical Life Sciences
Professor Sodiomon Sirima of Groupe de Recherche Action en Santé, who is the principal investigator on the upcoming Burkina Faso trial, added, "We are excited about assessing PfSPZ-LARC2 Vaccine in Burkina Faso, as it is the only malaria vaccine in development that has the potential of achieving the WHO goal of at least 90% protection against Pf infection." Pf, or Plasmodium falciparum, is the deadliest malaria parasite.
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