Reacción a "Clinical trial demonstrates efficacy of RH5.1/Matrix-M malaria vaccine in babies in Burkina Faso"

Led by researcher Hamtandi Magloire Natama, interim results in children from a double-blind, randomised, controlled, double-blind phase IIb trial of RH5.1/Matrix M, a vaccine against blood-borne merozoites, are presented, which appears to provide a second line of paediatric defence against clinical malaria. Dr Magloire Natama - a researcher with expertise in the study of genetic and immunological factors contributing to inter-individual variation in susceptibility to malaria in early childhood - was also co-investigator and coordinator of the phase II trial of R21/Matrix-M, the second malaria vaccine after RTS, S/AS02, which is also pre-erythrocytic and capable of targeting another stage of the parasite's life cycle: sporozoites.

The proposed trial was conducted in a controlled study in children aged 5-17 months in the Nanoro region of Burkina Faso, administering the vaccine during the malaria transmission season. The paper, published in The Lancet Infectious Diseases, reports that RH5.1/Matrix M is safe and well tolerated, and in three doses provides anti-RH5.1 antibodies. The authors propose that, as a promising strategy in this second generation of paediatric malaria vaccines, it should be used synergistically in combination with existing pre-erythrocytic vaccines.