Barcelona (Spain), 7 Dec (EFE).-the trials of the new vaccine against malaria developed in Barcelona reveal that protects half of the children, but this is the maximum level that can provide the treatment, so it should be explored new ways to improve its effectiveness.
“This vaccine could offer technically is already the best, so to obtain more level of protection will have to change their approach”, explains in an interview with Efe Colombian doctor John Aponte, who works at the center of research in international health from Barcelona (CRESIB).
Doctor of medicine from the Universidad Pontificia Javeriana in Bogotá and master’s degree in medical statistics in London, Aponte arrived in Barcelona in 1996 to continue its work on malaria in the team of Dr. Pedro Alonso, who leads research into this disease.
The first results of the clinical trial of the RTS, S vaccine in phase III, the most advanced and the prior to the registration by the World Health Organization (who), were presented last October and marked a milestone in the history of medicine.
On a sample of children vaccinated between 6 and 18 months, the results showed in 56 per cent of the cases against clinical malaria and protection of 47 percent against malaria serious.
It is the largest clinical trial ever conducted in African, children with a sample of almost 16,000 children and with the participation of 11 research centres in Africa and its corresponding centers partners in developed countries, as it is the case of the CRESIB, attached to the University of Barcelona and Hospital ClÃnic.
“A 56 per cent efficiency is good, is not 100 percent, as everyone would like to but this now does not exist or there is prospect for you to go to,” stresses apon you.
However, the efficiency is high if you consider that is the first vaccine in the world against a parasite, specifically the falciparum, widespread in sub-Saharan Africa and the most lethal of all variants that cause malaria.
Unlike bacteria or viruses, parasites are more difficult to fight with a vaccine, because they are much more complex and more “intelligent” agencies to find ways to adapt to the human body to survive, explains Aponte.
As the Antigen that has worked to make the vaccine already does not give more, scientists are required to improve the effectiveness of the preventive treatment with combinations of vaccines or new approaches, such as the study of the mechanisms of the immune system.
According to Aponte, the scientific community has been giving “blind sticks” in the fight against malaria, since treatments have been developed without having managed to decipher still the biological mechanism that makes that certain bodies, especially adults, to immunize against the effects of the parasite.
With these challenges on the table, Aponte is difficult to forecast will come when the final vaccine effectiveness with practically total.
“The development of vaccines against malaria is slow, because it is not attractive for drug companies to invest in a market such as the African, which is the poorest in the world,” stresses.
Aided by the Gates Foundation, the pharmaceutical GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) is responsible for developing the vaccine and commercialize it from 2016, which is when it is estimated that all research will be over already count on the recommendation of the who.
According to experts, if the vaccine to every child may reduce the mortality of a disease that causes each year more than one million deaths, mostly under five in sub-Saharan Africa.
John Aponte, Colombian scientist who works in the Centre of research in international health from Barcelona (CRESIB), after the interview with Efe that has commented that the new malaria vaccine trials reveal that it protects half of the children. EFE
