A malaria shot designed by vaccine maker Inovio Pharmaceuticals ($INO) killed the disease in infected cells in animals while boosting immune responses, according to a new study.
Delivered using the company's CELLECTRA electroporation device--which injects a dose into the muscle, then sends out a small electrical pulse designed to push the vaccine into the cell--Inovio's SynCon DNA vaccine demonstrated strong and durable antibody and T-cell immune responses in small animals and non-human primates. Inovio scientists designed the DNA vaccine to contain four sporozoite and liver-stage malaria antigens, chosen for their role in the control or elimination of malaria infection. The research was published in the journal Infection & Immunity.
The Blue Bell, PA-based company said it plans to initiate a Phase I/IIa clinical trial for the investigational malaria vaccine in 2014.
There is no vaccine available yet for malaria, although several are under development--like the experimental vaccine RTS,S, which has not shown sufficient protection in infants, a key trial age group. In 2010 there were more than 200 million cases of malaria and almost 700,000 deaths due to malaria infection, according to the World Health Organization (WHO). Most of those infections affect young children in Africa.
Rockville, MD-based Sanaria has also been working on a malaria vaccine and this month unveiled positive results for its jab, called PfSPZ.
Inovio's lead vaccine, a therapeutic against HPV-caused pre-cancers and cancers, is in Phase II.
- here's the study abstract
- read the press release