Malaria vaccine trial starts in Burkina Faso
17 May 2011
Trials of a new malaria vaccine funded by the European and Developing Countries Clinical Trials Partnership (EDCTP) have begun in Burkia Faso.
Recruitment of the first patients for the phase IIb clinical trial of the candidate malaria vaccine GMZ2 started in the trial site in the Banfora Health District on 29 April.
The Centre National de Recherche et de Formation sur le Paludisme (CNRFP) in Burkina Faso is conducting the trial as a member of the GMZ2 clinical trial consortium funded by EDCTP.
This is the second site to initiate volunteer recruitments. Vaccination has been underway at the trial site of the consortium in Gabon, the Medical Research Unit at Albert Schweitzer Hospital in Lambarene (MRU-ASH), since November 2010.
The GMZ2 vaccine is a hybrid malaria vaccine composed of merozoite surface protein (MSP3) and glutamate rich protein (GLURP). The vaccine is adjuvanted with aluminium hydroxide. Other sites that are part of this multi-centre study are in Uganda and Ghana. A total of 1870 children between 1 and 5 years of age is targeted to be vaccinated.
More information
1. Project Profile: Fostering research capacity, networking and
project management through phase I-IIB clinical trials of candidate
malaria vaccine GMZ2:
www.edctp.org/Project-Profiles.245.0.html?
&no_cache=1&tx_viprojects_pi1%5baction%5d=show_project&tx_viprojects_pi1%5bid%5d=84
2. The GMZ2 consortium is funded by EDCTP and is composed of the
African Malaria Network Trust (AMANET, project coordinator and sponsor) in
Tanzania, the Centre National de Recherche et de Formation sur le
Paludisme, Burkina Faso; Statens Serum Institut, Denmark; the
Medical Research Unit at Albert Schweitzer Hospital, Gabon; the
Medical Research Council Laboratories, The Gambia; University of
Tübingen, Germany; Makerere University, Uganda; Navrongo Health
Research Centre, Ghana; and the London School of Hygiene and
Tropical Medicine, UK.
AMANET project profile: GMZ2 Consortium official website:
http://amanet-trust.org/gmz2/
3. Information on the Centre National de Recherche et de Formation sur le Paludisme (CNRFP): www.malariagen.net/network/cnrfp
4. The European and Developing Countries Clinical Trials Partnership (EDCTP) was created in 2003 as a European response to the global health crisis caused by the three main poverty-related diseases (PRDs) of HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria. Currently EDCTP is a partnership between 14 European Union member states plus Norway and Switzerland with 47 sub-Saharan African countries.
The aim of the programme is to accelerate the development of new
or improved drugs, vaccines and microbicides against HIV/AIDS,
malaria and tuberculosis through promoting the integration of
national programmes of EDCTP European Member States and development
of a genuine partnership with African counterparts.
Website:
www.edctp.org