German drugmaker BioNTech (BNTX-US) on Friday (23rd) launched an initial study to evaluate its trial malaria vaccine in humans.
The Phase 1 trial is expected to enroll 60 volunteers in the US with no history of malaria and evaluate the vaccine candidate at the three-dose level.
The vaccine candidate, called BNT165b1, is the first trial of BioNTech’s malaria project, which will also build a vaccine production line in Africa.
The work is one of several efforts to tackle mosquito-borne diseases that kill more than 600,000 people each year, mostly children in Africa. The complex structure and life cycle of the malaria parasite has long hindered efforts to develop a vaccine.
After decades of work, the only currently approved malaria vaccine is Mosquirix, made by British drugmaker GSK, which was endorsed by the World Health Organization (WHO) this year, but a lack of funding and commercial potential has prevented GSK from producing as many doses as possible Ability.
Another high-profile achievement is Oxford University’s malaria vaccine. Interim trial data were released in September. While direct comparisons have not been made, some scientists believe the Oxford vaccine works better than the Mosquirix vaccine and provides longer-lasting immunity.
BioNTech’s malaria vaccine development remains focused on its mRNA technology, which has been used during the pandemic to rapidly develop a coronavirus vaccine by prompting the body to make proteins that are part of the pathogen to trigger an immune response.
