Frist Effective Malaria Vaccine

The world's first effective malaria vaccine is close to being approved for widespread use by 2015. Researchers reporting in PLoS Medicine said for every 1000 cases of malaria in children 800 could be prevented by vaccine injections. The vaccine has completed a large-scale Phase III trial. Over eighteen months of follow-up RTS,S was shown to almost halve the number of malaria cases in small young children (5-17 months). The drug is intended to trigger the patient's immune system to defend against Plasmodium falciparum when it first enters the bloodstream or infects liver cells. The parasite matures and multiplies in the human liver before attacking red blood cells. The vaccine's effectiveness appears to wane over time, but studies are underway to determine if booster shots will improve its benefit. Most deaths from malaria are children under the age of five in sub-Saharan Africa. An estimated 660,000 deaths from malaria occur each year. GlaxoSmithKline has asked the European Medicine Authority to approve the use of its vaccine. An independent expert from St. George's University of London called the vaccine a landmark since the development landscape is "littered with carcasses, with vaccines dying left, right and center". The Gates Foundation contributed more than $200 million in grants to the vaccine's development. The pharmaceutical giant GSK has invested $360 million so far and expects to spend another $260 million until development is completed.