Positive early results for GSK malaria vaccine candidate

Last week's news about the clinical trial results of GSK's malaria vaccine candidate garnered significant media coverage. As this Reuters story explains, two different Phase II trials -- one each in Kenya and Tanzania -- enrolled slightly more than 1200 infants and children. Both trials showed substantial protection against malaria (between 50-65%) when comparing those receiving the vaccine versus the placebo groups. Here's another account from Time magazine.

Papers reporting on each trial (Kenya and Tanzania) were published in the December 11 issue of the New England Journal of Medicine, along with an editorial bearing the appropriate title, "A Hopeful Beginning for Malaria Vaccines." The editorial details the significance of the results thus far and some of the many questions that must be explored by future, larger clinical trials to begin in 2009.

The implications of the results were addressed in an editorial in yesterday's New York Times, "The Glaxo-Gates Malaria Vaccine."

In addition to GSK, organizations involved in the studies include the PATH Malaria Vaccine Initiative, the KEMRI-Wellcome Trust Program in Kenya, and the Joint Malaria Programme in Tanzania. Information about both trials is available at ClinicalTrials.gov: Kenya and Tanzania.