Malaria Vax Yields Promising Results

Data from the Phase III trial of a malaria vaccine breeds hope for immunization as a possible weapon against the dreaded disease.

Written byBob Grant

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A 9-month-old Ethiopian child recieving a measels vaccination WIKIMEDIA, PETE LEWIS / DFID

An experimental vaccine reduced the risk of developing malaria by about 50 percent in 6,000 sub-Saharan African children when combined with existing interventions, such as the use of insecticide-treated bed nets, according to a new study published online today by the New England Journal of Medicine.

Officials and researchers collaborating on the project announced preliminary results from the Phase III clinical trial of the RTS,S malaria vaccine today (18 October) at a malaria meeting in Seattle. "We're on track to make history with this vaccine trial," Christopher Elias, president and CEO of the Seattle-based nonprofit PATH organization, which collaborated in the trial, said during the news conference.

Doctors at 11 sites spread across seven African nations administered three successive doses of the RTS,S vaccine to ...

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Meet the Author

Bob Grant
From 2017 to 2022, Bob Grant was Editor in Chief of The Scientist, where he started in 2007 as a Staff Writer. Before joining the team, he worked as a reporter at Audubon and earned a master’s degree in science journalism from New York University. In his previous life, he pursued a career in science, getting a bachelor’s degree in wildlife biology from Montana State University and a master’s degree in marine biology from the College of Charleston in South Carolina. Bob edited Reading Frames and other sections of the magazine.
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