In a report published in The Lancet Infectious Diseases ( Safety and efficacy of PfSPZ Vaccine against malaria in healthy adults and women anticipating pregnancy in Mali: two randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled, phase 1 and 2 trials ) a team led by investigators at the Malaria Research and Training Center (MRTC), Bamako, Mali; the Laboratory of Malaria Immunology and Vaccinology (LMIV), National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, National Institutes of Health; and Sanaria Inc. describes the durable protective efficacy against malaria shown by Sanaria ® PfSPZ Vaccine when administered to women prior to pregnancy. The two clinical trials, led by Dr.
Halimatou Diawara (MRTC) and Dr. Sara Healy (LMIV), were conducted in Ouélessébougou, Mali from 2018-2021. For the first time, immunization with a malaria vaccine has been shown to protect mothers from malaria during pregnancy and to protect for two transmission seasons without booster doses of vaccine.
Malaria during pregnancy is an enormous problem. Plasmodium falciparum (Pf) infection during pregnancy causes up to an estimated 50,000 maternal deaths and 200,000 stillbirths in Africa each year. Better protection for the mother and developing fetus is urgently needed.
PfSPZ Vaccine has an excellent safety profile and our teams have worked with NIH and Sanaria partners over the years to demonstrate its efficacy in Mali, where seasonal malaria transmission is intense." Professor Abdoulaye Djimde, Director of .