Ghana becomes first country to approve malaria vaccine made by Oxford Varsity
Ghana has made history by becoming the first country in the world to approve a new malaria vaccine developed by Oxford University.
The vaccine, which has the potential to save thousands of lives, will initially benefit children under the age of three in Ghana, who are at the highest risk of dying from the mosquito-borne disease.
Malaria claims more than 600,000 lives each year, with the majority of the victims being African children. Scientists have been striving for years to develop an effective vaccine against this deadly disease.
The Oxford vaccine’s safety and effectiveness are still being assessed by the World Health Organization (WHO), but Ghana’s drug regulator has approved it for the high-risk age group, thanks to the positive results of a mid-stage trial involving over 400 young children.
The vaccine was found to be 80% effective in the group that received a higher dose of the immune-boosting adjuvant component of the vaccine, and 70% effective in the lower-dose adjuvant group, at 12 months following the fourth dose.
The Serum Institute of India has a deal to produce up to 200 million doses of the Oxford vaccine annually, and this marks the first time a major vaccine has been approved first in an African country ahead of rich nations. It is uncommon for a regulatory authority in Africa to review data quicker than the WHO, but Oxford scientist Adrian Hill said African regulators have been taking a more proactive stance since COVID-19 hit, with the desire to avoid being last in line.
The WHO endorsed the first malaria vaccine, Mosquirix, from British drugmaker GSK last year after several decades of research. However, GSK’s limited capacity to produce enough doses to meet the demand has been a major setback.
The company has committed to producing up to 15 million doses of Mosquirix annually through 2028, well below the roughly 100 million doses a year that the WHO recommends to cover around 25 million children.
Ghana, Kenya, and Malawi participated in the pilot programme for the Mosquirix rollout, and have begun rolling it out more extensively in recent months. Since 2019, 1.2 million children across the three countries have received at least one dose of the vaccine, and the WHO has stated that all-cause child mortality has decreased by 10% in areas where the vaccine has been administered.
The Oxford vaccine is currently undergoing an ongoing phase III clinical trial in Burkina Faso, Kenya, Mali, and Tanzania that has enrolled 4,800 children. Late-stage data, which shows a similar vaccine performance as the mid-stage trial, has been shared with regulatory authorities over the last six months, according to Hill.
