Serum Institute of India (SII) CEO Adar Poonawalla on Tuesday said that the combined efforts of the Pune-based biotech firm and Oxford University have come to fruition after the World Health Organisation (WHO) recommended a new anti-malaria vaccine R21/Matrix-M, to curb the spread of the disease. Poonawalla added that the vaccine will help save several lives afflicted due to malaria in Africa while bridging the demand-supply gap for these vaccines.
The R21/Matrix-M is the second malaria vaccine recommended by the UN health agency after the RTS,S/AS01 vaccine, which the WHO recommended in 2021. Jointly developed by Serum Institute of India (SII) and Jenner Institute at Oxford University, R21/Matrix-M vaccine can be manufactured at a mass scale and modest cost, enabling bulk supplies of doses to countries impacted due to malaria.
“I am pleased to announce that the WHO has recommended the R21/Matrix-M Malaria vaccine. The combined efforts of @SerumInstIndia and @UniOfOxford have come to fruition. This will save thousands of lives in Africa afflicted by Malaria, and help bridge the vast gap between the demand and supply of vaccines to fight this terrible disease. I thank @DrTedros and @WHO for reaching this milestone together,” Poonawalla said in a post on X formerly Twitter.
SII malaria vaccine efficacy
The vaccine has already been licensed for use in Ghana, Nigeria and Burkina Faso. The vaccine was recommended on the basis of the pre-clinical and clinical trial data that suggested good safety and high efficacy across areas with seasonal and perennial malaria transmission in four countries. Due to this, R21/Matrix-M became the world’s second ever WHO recommended vaccine against malaria in children.
According to the UN health agency, the efficacy of the vaccine over a period of 12 months was 75 per cent at sites with higher transmission of malaria and 68 per cent at sites with more perennial transmission using standard age-based administration.
However, efficacy waned over the first year of follow-up at both seasonal and perennial transmission sites. A booster dose given to children in these areas restored efficacy at seasonal sites with a vaccine efficacy over 18 months of 74 per cent.
“Significantly higher vaccine-induced antibody titres were observed in the 5–17-month age group compared with 18–36-month-olds (p
Malaria vaccine availability, cost
The anti-malaria vaccine will be available by mid-2024 and each dose would cost between $2 and $4. “The addition of R21 to the list of WHO-recommended malaria vaccines is expected to result in sufficient vaccine supply to benefit all children living in areas where malaria is a public health risk,” the WHO said. Poonawalla said in an interview that it had already produced more than 20 million doses in anticipation of WHO’s recommendation while adding he hopes that there is no demand-supply mismatch by 2024.