The results of a clinical trial into a new malaria vaccine candidate (RH5.1/Matrix-MTM) show it is well-tolerated and offers effective protection against the blood-stage of the disease—the first inoculation to do so.
Malaria, caused by Plasmodium falciparum parasites, is a leading cause of death in children under five in many parts of Africa. Blood-stage malaria —when the parasite infects red blood cells —causes symptoms of the disease like fever and chills, and can lead to severe, life-threatening complications such as anemia and organ failure.
The study has been run by scientists at the University of Oxford in collaboration with the Clinical Research Unit of Nanoro (CRUN) at the Institut de Recherche en Sciences de la Santé (IRSS) in Burkina Faso, the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine (LSHTM) in the U.K. and the National Institute of Health (NIH) in the U.S., with support from other partners including the Serum Institute of India Pvt. Ltd, Novavax and ExpreS2ion Biotechnologies ApS.
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