The World’s First Malaria Vaccine Could Be Heading to Africa

The world’s first malaria vaccine just got the green light from a European Medicines Agency committee and is one step closer to being approved for use in sub-Saharan Africa, the EMA announced today.

Mosquirix, also known scientifically as RTS,S, was given a positive review by the committee on Friday after the drug was assessed for quality, safety, and efficacy. Now it makes its way to the World Health Organization, which will take the EMA’s positive opinion under consideration and determine in October how the vaccine will be recommended for use in Africa.

Created by pharmaceutical giant GlaxoSmithKline in 1987—with clinical developments later supported by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation (which funds TakePart World), PATH, and the Walter Reed Army Institute for Research—the vaccine is intended to immunize children six weeks to 17 months old and also protects against hepatitis B.

“This is a hugely significant moment,” Ripley Ballou, head of research at GSK Vaccines, told BBC News. “I’ve been working on this vaccine for 30 years, and this is a dream come true.”

Malaria is one of the leading killers of children in Africa, where one child dies every minute from the disease, which is transmitted through bites from infected mosquitoes, according to WHO. An estimated 584,000 people died from malaria in 2013, with 90 percent of cases occurring in Africa. The majority of deaths were children under the age of five.

While this new vaccine signifies a major medical breakthrough and clinical results were promising, they were also “modest,” according to the EMA. In clinical trials, the drug was administered to children in three doses, one month apart, in seven African countries: Burkina Faso, Gabon, Ghana, Kenya, Malawi, Mozambique, and Tanzania. The vaccine effectively prevented malaria in 56 percent of children ages five months to 17 months and in 31 percent of children ages six weeks to 12 weeks.

But efficacy decreased after one year, making it essential to administer a booster dose 18 months later, according to GSK.

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Still, the EMA was quick to point out that the benefits of the vaccine outweighed the risks. The drug was still a significant form of protection, especially for children in high-transmission areas and when used in conjunction with other antimalaria precautions, such as mosquito nets and insecticide sprays.

“Is there room for improvement? Yes. We can improve a lot,” Moncef Slaoui, coinventor of the vaccine and chairman of GSK Vaccines, told Time, adding that a second generation of the vaccine was currently being developed. “It’s a tweak of the current vaccine. We know the next generation is close by.”

News of the Mosquirix vaccine comes on the heels of an announcement last month that a one-shot malaria drug, which can both treat and prevent malaria, could be available in Africa for $1 per dose within the next five years.