After decades of work, the only approved malaria vaccine, Mosquirix, from British drugmaker GSK, has recently been endorsed by the World Health Organization (WHO).
Oxford’s vaccine, called R21/Matrix-M, is likely more effective than Mosquirix at preventing the disease that kills about 600,000 people every year, despite the roughly $3 billion spent annually on insecticides, bed nets and anti-malaria drugs, it said. the Oxford scientist Adrian Hill.
It also has a manufacturing advantage, he said, citing an agreement with Serum Institute of India to produce 200 million doses per year, starting in 2023.
In contrast, GSK has committed to producing up to 15 million doses of Mosquirix per year until 2028, far less than the roughly 100 million doses per year of the four-dose vaccine needed in the long term to treat approximately 25 million children, according to WHO. .
GSK has said it cannot make enough Mosquirix to meet high demand without more money from international donors.
Data from an interim study on more than 400 young children who received a fourth dose of the Oxford shot after the primary three-dose series was published Wednesday in the journal Lancet https://www.thelancet.com/journals/laninf/article/PIIS1473- 3099(22)00442-X/full text.
Vaccine efficacy was 80% in the group that received a higher dose of the immune-boosting adjuvant component of the vaccine, and 70% in the group that received a lower dose of adjuvant adjuvant, 12 months after the fourth dose. The doses were administered before the malaria peak season in Burkina Faso.
MOSQUIRIX
The complex structure and life cycle of the malaria parasite has long thwarted efforts to develop vaccines. GSK’s Mosquirix was conceived as far back as the 1980s, paving the way for the Oxford team to create a more potent vaccine, Hill said.
However, it is difficult to directly compare the two vaccines, as data from a larger phase III trial, testing the Oxford vaccine with 4,800 participants, is yet to come.
Meanwhile, data published last year from a late phase trial showed that when Mosquirix was administered before the malaria season in high-transmission areas, it was nearly 63% effective https://www.nejm.org/doi/full /10.1056/NEJMoa2026330 against clinical malaria.
Comparisons between the two vaccines should be cautious at this stage, as they have not yet been compared head-to-head in the same trial, said David Conway of the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine.
However, these Phase II data suggest that the Oxford jab is a step forward over Mosquirix, in improving efficacy and maintaining immunity, said Alister Craig of the Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine.
Oxford expects to submit Phase III data to the WHO soon, hoping to get major approval next year.