There's a ray of hope in the fight against tropical diseases: German pharmaceutical company
Clinical trials are expected to start by the end of 2022.
The vaccines will use use
The plans by the
However, there is debate over whether the continent is ready for made-in-
The Director of the German-based European Vaccine Initiative,
'Huge challenge'
Currently,
"It's a huge challenge to set up factories in
Loans from development institutes but also support from governments, contributions from organizations and private investors could help make this happen.
It isn't impossible for
Obstacles to eradicating malaria
After decades of research and failed attempts to eradicate malaria, a highly effective vaccine could finally provide protection.
The malaria vaccine Mosquirix, produced by pharmaceutical company
But it has a limited efficacy of around 30%, which doesn't meet the
Several other vaccine candidates are in development.
Attacking malaria parasites
Malaria is a infectious disease caused by single-cell parasites. Endemic in 87 countries, it's transmitted by female Anopheles mosquitoes, which carry the parasites from one human to another.
There are five different type of parasites that infect humans. The most dangerous of these is malaria tropica, which can lead to organ failure.
If malaria isn't promptly treated, the infection can become severe and "may cause kidney failure, seizures, mental confusion, coma, and death," according to the
With 94% of the malaria cases in 2019 occurring in
"The key advantage of the mRNA technology is that it is very flexible. It consists of different building blocks which can easily be exchanged and adapted towards different targets," said Olesen from the European Vaccine Initiative.
"It's almost like a set of
"In the case of COVID-19, it was relatively simple to identify the target. The virus is simple and it was quite clear that the spike protein was an obvious target," he said.
"For the malaria parasite it's a much more complicated story. And this has caused many headaches and many failures over the years for people
A virus such as COVID-19 only contains a handful of genes, but the malaria parasite is made up of 5,000, Olesen explained.
Infrastructure and political will crucial for success
Many factors have to come together for such a project to be successful.
Production involves substantial costs and establishing a reliable flow of raw materials is also crucial, something that has been a problem in the production of COVID-19 vaccines.
But you also need the good will of the producers to transfer technology and the interest of local governments, Olesen said. And last but not least: Reliable cold chains to store and transport the vaccines.
This article was adapted from German.
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