Pharmacy Daily | WHO approves affordable malaria vax

A CHEAP malaria vaccine that can be produced on a massive scale has been recommended for use by the World Health Organization (WHO).

The vaccine called R21 has been developed by the University of Oxford and is only the second malaria vaccine to be developed, BBC has reported.

Prof Sir Adrian Hill, Director of the Jenner Institute in Oxford, said, "the vaccine is easily deployable, cost-effective, affordable and ready for distribution in areas where it is needed most".

Malaria kills mostly babies and infants and has been one of the biggest scourges on humanity.

It has been almost two years to the day since the first vaccine called RTS,S was developed by pharmaceutical company GSK and also backed by the WHO.

The WHO said the effectiveness of the two vaccines was "very similar" and there was no evidence one was better than the other.

However, the key difference is the ability to manufacture the University of Oxford vaccine R21 at scale, reported the news outlet.

The world's largest vaccine manufacturer, the Serum Institute of India, is already lined up to make more than 100 million doses a year and has plans to scale up to 200 million doses a year.

The WHO has stated that so far there are only 18 million doses of RTS,S, adding that the new R21 vaccine would be a "vital additional tool" for the serious disease.

Dr Tedros Ghebreyesus (pictured), Director-General of the WHO, said it was a moment of "great pleasure" for the implementation.

"I used to dream of the day we would have a safe and effective vaccine against malaria, now we have two," he said.

Each dose costs US$2-4 (A$3-$6) and four doses are needed per person; that is currently about half the price of RTS,S.

Dr Matshidiso Moeti, the WHO Regional Director for Africa, added, "this second vaccine holds real potential to close the huge demand-and-supply gap".

"The two vaccines can help bolster malaria prevention & control efforts and save hundreds of thousands of young lives." JG