SB/WRAIR's Malaria Vaccine Shows Promise

SmithKline Beecham and the Walter Reed Army Institute of Research haveannounced promising clinical results with an experimental malaria vaccine, developed by SB's Belgian affiliate SmithKline Beecham Biologicals in collaboration with the WRAIR.

The clinical challenge trial was conducted at the WRAIR (with US Food and Drug Administration authorization) and involved three groups of volunteers who received different formulations of an experimental vaccine, plus a control group of non-vaccinated volunteers. Six of the seven volunteers given the most complex formulation of the vaccine remained free of infection, while all the non-vaccinated volunteers became infected. In those receiving less complex formulations of the vaccines only marginal protection against infection was observed. The vaccine that successfully prevented infection by the malaria parasite Plasmodium falciparum consisted of an antigen preparation referred to as RTS,S, and in a proprietary form is designated SB AS2.