Brussels, 25/01/2001 (Agence Europe) - Two new anti-malaria vaccines, issued from European research, have entered in to the clinical trails phase. They are both aimed at producing an immune response in children, which form the most vulnerable group from the tropical infectious disease.
The first vaccine, named "MSP-3"is the fruit of research supported by the EU and coordinated by Pierre Druilhe from the Pasteur Institute in Paris (France), with scientists from several countries: Brazil, Denmark, India, Lebanon, Senegal and Switzerland. The other vaccine, which should enter into the clinical trails phase in the first quarter 2001, is named "Glurp". It was developed in the framework of the project lead by Michael Theisen from the molecular biology laboratory of the Statens Serum Laboratory in Copenhagen (Denmark), with scientists from eight countries: Brazil, Columbia, France, Ghana, the Netherlands, Tanzania, Senegal and Switzerland. The two vaccines are produced by SEDAC-Therapeutics in Lille (France) under the direction of Ahmed Bouzidi and in collaboration with Giampietro Corradin from the University of Lausanne (Switzerland). The European Commission contributed to a total of EUR 1 million, over eight year, to the development of these two vaccines. The clinical trials would involve doctors and immunologists from university hospitals in Lausanne and Nijmegen (Netherlands). In Africa, this assessment will be lead under the responsibility of the AMVTN (African Malaria Vaccine Testing Network) lead by Wen Kilama.
EUROPE recalls that several candidate vaccines have been, since 1985, the object of clinical trials. More than 80 tests have been made without any candidate showing an acceptable effectiveness with man. Malaria remains one of the main causes of death, notably in sub-Saharan Africa, with each year more than two million deaths, in particular children and pregnant women. It is estimated at more than 400 million the number of annual infections that hit the local populations, but also a significant number of travellers. The European Union territory is not spared with the ultra-peripheral regions, such as Guyana, and the other communities, such as Mayotte, where the resistant strains form a major problem for public health. On the therapeutic level, no new molecule has been developed on fifteen years and only a few teams from the public sector continue at the present time research work on malaria as with other tropical diseases. State aid, including European, remains insufficient despite a political talk that regularly insists on the desire to fight this scourge, notes the researcher who feels this is all the more deceiving as the rare research that is done in the sector is in Europe. This counteracts any economic logic to the extent where most of the patents are European and that the United States is content with investing in the development.