malaria vaccine initiative

(Burness Communications) The PATH Malaria Vaccine Initiative announced today that it has entered into a collaboration with Dutch biopharmaceutical company Crucell N.V. and GlaxoSmithKline.

This collaboration is aimed at developing a 2nd-generation vaccine against malaria -- a deadly disease that kills close to 800,000 people annually, most of them young children under age five in Africa.

(PATH Malaria Vaccine Initiative) A pivotal efficacy trial of RTS,S, the world's most clinically advanced malaria vaccine candidate, is now underway in seven African countries: Burkina Faso, Gabon, Ghana, Kenya, Malawi, Mozambique and Tanzania.

The trial, which is expected to involve up to 16,000 children, is on schedule, with more than 5,000 children already enrolled, researchers announced Tuesday at the 5th Multilateral Initiative on Malaria Pan-African Malaria Conference.