September 7, 2022

Results of a phase 2b malaria booster vaccine trial in children in Africa

University of Oxford researchers have been running trials of their R21/Matrix-M malaria vaccine candidate in children in Burkina Faso, Africa.

Last year they reported results from the primary three-dose regimen that met the World Health Organization’s Malaria Vaccine Technology Roadmap goal of a vaccine with at least 75% efficacy – now they have results following a fourth, booster dose, given one year after the primary doses.

The results have been published in the Lancet Infectious Diseases.

450 participants aged five to 17 months were recruited from the catchment area of Nanoro and were randomly assigned to three groups, with the first two groups receiving the R21/Matrix-M (with either a low dose or high dose of the Matrix-M adjuvant) vaccine as a booster and the third a rabies vaccine as the control group.

Journalists dialled in to this briefing to hear from the scientists who are running the trial about their results.

Speakers included:

Prof Adrian Hill, Director of the Jenner Institute, and Lakshmi Mittal and Family Professor of Vaccinology, University of Oxford

Prof Katie Ewer, Professor of Vaccine Immunology, Jenner Institute, Nuffield Department of Clinical Medicine, University of Oxford

Prof Halidou Tinto, Professor in Parasitology, Regional Director of the Institut de Recherche en Sciences de la Santé (IRSS) in Nanoro, and PI at the Burkina Faso site

Dr Mehreen Datoo, Clinical Research Fellow, Jenner Institute, Nuffield Department of Clinical Medicine, University of Oxford

This Briefing was accompanied by an SMC Roundup of Comments.