Look into the Future
| Research Opportunity | Forecast | |
| Develop and field attenuated sporozoite vaccines that completely prevent Plasmodium falciparum infection | Vaccines that prevent infection with Plasmodium falciparum in a high percentage of vaccinees for prolonged periods and can be used to first further reduce infection rates, and then eliminate the parasite from geographic areas in combination with other control measures | |
| Development of methods of culturing P. vivax so as to be able to efficiently produce attenuated P. vivax sporozoite vaccines | Development of attenuated sporozoite vaccines against P. vivax that when combined with the attenuated P. falciparum sporozoite vaccine and other control measures can be used to first eliminate malaria from geographic areas and then eradicate malaria | |
| Based on improved understanding of the regulation of the human immune response and the critical antigenic targets of the parasite, development of highly effective subunit malaria vaccines, including vaccines that prevent transmission of the infection by inducing immunity against the sexual stages of the life cycle, transmission blocking vaccines | Use of these subunit vaccines, especially the transmission blocking components, in combination with attenuated sporozoite vaccines to eliminate and eventually eradicate malaria. Depending on the cost and ease of delivery, if a subunit pre-erythrocytic stage vaccine with efficacy equivalent to the attenuated sporozoite vaccine was developed, it could replace the whole sporozoite vaccine. | |
Author: Stephen L. Hoffman, MD, Chief Executive and Scientific Officer, Sanaria Inc., Rockville MD