New European malaria vaccines ready for testing
New malaria vaccines developed under one of the European Commission's research programmes are being clinically tested and should enter clinical evaluation in Africa in mid-2001. The new vaccine specifically targets the most vulnerable group, children affected by malaria. Malaria kills over two million children annually in sub-Saharan Africa, and the situation is deteriorating rapidly. 'This giant step towards the control of malaria is the tangible result of many years of investment in malaria vaccine development by the European Commission and EU Member States,' said Research Commissioner Philippe Busquin. 'After the conference on poverty related diseases organised on 28 September 2000, this is another example of the Commission's commitment to spearhead research on diseases affecting the poorest populations, such as malaria, tuberculosis and AIDS.' The first of the two vaccines (MSP-3) just presented by the scientific teams has been developed by an EU supported research project coordinated by Pierre Druilhe of the Bio-Medical Parasitology Unit at Institut Pasteur in France, and involved scientists from Brazil, Denmark, India, Lebanon, Senegal and Switzerland. The second, which is due to be used from the end of 2001 is called GLURP. This vaccine has been developed in a project headed by Michael Theisen of the Laboratory for Molecular Biology at Statens Serum Institut, Denmark, and involved scientists from Brazil, Colombia, France, Ghana, The Netherlands, Tanzania, Senegal and Switzerland. Other malaria vaccines, developed and produced by the European Malaria Vaccine Initiative (EMVI) will also be evaluated over the next couple of years. These vaccines are the outcome of an international cooperative effort involving 11 countries (Brazil, Colombia, Denmark, France, Ghana, India, Lebanon, The Netherlands, Senegal, Tanzania and Switzerland) and supported by the EU's research programmes.haine réun
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