PROFOH Welcomes First Malaria Vaccine Given Green Light By European Regulators

The European Medicines Agency recommended RTS,S, or Mosquirix, should be licensed for use in young children in Africa  who are at risk of the mosquito-borne disease. The shot has been developed by UK drugmaker GlaxoSmithKline and partly funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. It has taken 30 years to develop it, at a cost of more than $565m (£364m) to date.It will now be assessed by the World Health Organisation, which has promised to give its guidance on how and where it should be used before the end of the year. GSK will then apply to the WHO for a scientific review of the vaccine, which will be used by the UN and other agencies to help make purchasing decisions. The rollout of the vaccine, which also has to be approved by national health authorities in sub- Saharan Africa, is likely to be funded by Gavi, the vaccine alliance founded by the Gates Foundation.According to the WHO, 627,000 deaths from malaria were reported globally in 2013, of which the vast majority (562,000) occurred in Africa, mostly among children under the age of five years (82%).The EMA said its committee of experts “considered that the benefits of vaccination may be particularly important among children in high-transmission areas in which mortality is very high”   “It is tremendous news that GSK’s long-awaited malaria vaccine has gained approval in Europe. Despite huge progress in combating malaria, it remains one of the world’s deadliest diseases.”The GSK’s vaccine is a “scientific breakthrough that others can build on”. Researchers at Brown University in the US, for example, are working on an experimental vaccine based on natural antibodies found in some children in Tanzania.