BioNTech starts trial for mRNA-vaccine against malaria

The pharmaceutical giant BioNTech announced that it initiated an early-stage study to evaluate its experimental malaria vaccine in humans on December 23.

As Reuters reported, the German drugmaker, which became widely known for its invention of one of the COVID-19 vaccines, has said that 60 volunteers will be enrolled in its Phase 1 trial in the US. 

The vaccine, known as BNT165b1, it is the first candidate from BioNTech's malaria project, which will also establish vaccine production in Africa.

BioNTech is leading one of several focused on tackling the mosquito-borne disease that kills over 600,000 each year, most of them children in Africa.

According to the publication, the complicated structure and lifecycle of the malaria parasite has long stymied efforts to develop vaccines.

After decades of work, the only approved malaria vaccine, Mosquirix, made by British drugmaker GSK, was this year endorsed by the World Health Organization (WHO), but a lack of funding and commercial potential has thwarted GSK's capacity to produce as many doses as needed.

Another keenly-watched effort is a malaria vaccine from Oxford University. Mid-stage trial data was published in September.

BioNTech's malaria vaccine effort is based on its mRNA technology, which was employed during the pandemic, by prompting the human body to make a protein that is part of the pathogen, triggering an immune response.