Towards a Next-Generation Malaria Vaccine Portfolio (Innovations in Malaria Vaccine Development)

The World Health Organization (WHO) estimates that since the year 2000, 1.5 billion malaria cases and 7.6 million deaths have been averted thanks to the malaria control and elimination efforts. Nevertheless, progress has stalled in recent years, especially in the countries that bear the heaviest burden. Research and development of new tools is one of the highest priorities that the malaria community should address, including the need to develop improved malaria vaccines. The favourable review of the pre-erythrocytic Plasmodium falciparum candidate RTS,S vaccine in 2015 by the European Medicines Agency (EMA) marked a milestone in the malaria vaccine development arena, fostering the development and testing of other malaria-vaccine concepts, such as whole sporozoite vaccines, blood-stage vaccines, or transmission-blocking vaccines. Notably, the last two decades have also seen some promising Plasmodium vivax candidates, as well as novel strategies and platforms for malaria vaccine design. In 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic emerged as an additional global challenge, but the global vaccine development efforts to respond to the pandemic can also be an opportunity for the malaria community to learn and build upon. This symposium will bring together the perspectives of four researchers representing the key challenges for malaria vaccines, from the bench to the field to discuss the latest innovations in malaria vaccine development and how to move towards an enriched malaria vaccine portfolio. The presentations discussing some of the latest advances will lead to a final conversation to explore how the malaria community can leverage the COVID-19 vaccine development efforts and take advantage of the lessons learnt.

Chairperson: Regina Rabinovich, MESA Alliance, ISGlobal, Spain

Co-chair: Halidou Tinto, Institute of Research in Health Sciences (IRSS) – Clinical Research Unit of Nanoro (CRUN), Burkina Faso

Speakers:

• B. Kim Lee Sim, Sanaria Inc.
• Simon Draper, University of Oxford
• Hernando del Portillo, ISGlobal and Institut Germans Trias i Pujol (IGTP)
• Ashley Birkett, PATH Center for Vaccine Innovation and Access (CVIA)

Symposium organized at the American Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene (ASTMH) Annual Meeting 2021.

When: November 18th, 3:00 PM U.S. Eastern

How to register