As Trials Advance for a Malaria Vaccine, Policy Makers Urged to Plan for Its Use

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JAMA
December 1, 2010, Vol 304, No. 21, pp 2323-2430
http://jama.ama-assn.org/current.dtl

Medical News & Perspectives
As Trials Advance for a Malaria Vaccine, Policy Makers Urged to Plan for Its Use
JAMA. 2010;304(21):2348. doi: 10.1001/jama.304.21.2348
Rebecca Voelker

[First 150 words per JAMA convention]
As the first promising malaria vaccine makes its way through phase 3 clinical trials in sub-Saharan Africa, stakeholders’ greatest fears go beyond the possibility that the vaccine may fail to meet safety and efficacy goals. They worry that even if the vaccine is licensed, inadequate planning for its distribution could leave it to languish in warehouses. “After decades of research and tens of millions of dollars invested  . . .  it would be scandalous if this vaccine just sits on the shelf,” said Yvette Collymore, MA, of the nonprofit PATH Malaria Vaccine Initiative (MVI), during a recent Washington, DC, conference. MVI and the vaccine’s creator, GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) Biologicals, partnered in 2001 to develop the vaccine for infants and young children in sub-Saharan Africa. But the origins …