Oxford university helps to develop WHO recommended malaria vaccine

A vaccine for Malaria, which the university of Oxford has helped to develop, has been recommended for use by the World Health Organization (WHO), paving the way for it to save hundreds of thousands of lives each year.

The R21/Matrix-M vaccine has been developed by the Jenner Institute at Oxford University and Serum Institute of India using biotech Novavax’s adjuvant technology.

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The WHO recommendation comes after the vaccine met required safety, quality and effectiveness standards and is required for UNICEF to procure and GAVI (the vaccine alliance) to purchase it.

It was based on pre-clinical and clinical trial data which showed good safety and high efficacy in four countries, at sites with both seasonal and perennial malaria transmission, making it the world’s second-ever WHO recommended vaccine for preventing malaria in children.

The Serum Institute of India has already established production capacity for 100 million doses per year, which will be doubled over the next two years.

Additional regulatory approvals are expected to follow shortly and the R21/Matrix-M vaccine doses could be ready to begin a wider roll-out as early as next year.

Dr Lisa Stockdale, senior immunologist at The Jenner Institute, the home of 30 years of malaria vaccine research, said: "Today’s news is testament to the work of our dedicated team and means we have another tool with which to fight this disease that kills over half a million people every year.

"However, further work is critical to establish not just that the vaccine works, but to understand more about how it works, and apply that knowledge to future vaccines."

Adar Poonawalla, the CEO of the Serum Institute of India, added: "For far too long, malaria has threatened the lives of billions of people across the globe, disproportionately affecting the most vulnerable amongst us.

"This is why the WHO recommendation and approval of the R21/Matrix-M vaccine marks a huge milestone on our journey to combat this life-threatening disease, showing what exactly can be achieved when the public and private sector, scientists and researchers, all work together towards a shared goal."

John C. Jacobs, the president and CEO at Novavax, added: "This WHO designation highlights the meaningful contribution that R21/Matrix-M is likely to have in accelerating and expanding access to a safe, efficacious and potentially life-saving vaccine to control malaria – a disease that disproportionately impacts children."

The vaccine recently reached the primary one-year endpoint in a pivotal large-scale Phase III clinical trial, which was funded mainly by the Serum Institute of India, with Oxford University as the regulatory sponsor.

The trial included 4,800 children across Burkina Faso, Kenya, Mali and Tanzania and the results are under peer review before publication.

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