Pharmaceutical company GenVec’s malaria vaccine candidate is well-tolerated and induces an immune response, according to results from a Phase I/II clinical trial presented by the company at the Malaria Vaccines for the World Conference at the Royal Society of Medicine in London.
The vaccine, produced from GenVec’s 293-ORF6 cell line and an associated manufacturing process, is “designed to provide protection against both the liver and blood stages” of the malaria parasite, according to the company.
The clinical trials were sponsored by the National Naval Medical Center and the U.S. Military Malaria Vaccine Program. GenVec said it next plans to assess the safety of the vaccine at a higher dose and then evaluate its efficacy.
PATH, GenVec Vaccine Project
Preclinical trial data involving a separate vaccine candidate from GenVec and the PATH Malaria Vaccine Initiative also were presented at the conference. The data from the vaccine, which includes five antigens from blood and liver stages of the parasite, showed an immune response in animals. “The results from these studies are encouraging and support the use of our adenovector technologies in developing effective malaria vaccines,” Joseph Bruder, GenVec’s director of vector and vaccine programs, said.