A study published in The Lancet looks at the results of the malaria R21/Matrix-M vaccine.    Dr Alena Pance, Senior Lecturer in … read more

The World Health Organisation have recommended the new R21/Matrix-M vaccine for malaria prevention.    Sir Brian Greenwood, Professor of Clinical … read more

University of Oxford researchers have been running trials of their R21/Matrix-M malaria vaccine candidate in children in Burkina Faso, Africa. … read more

Results of the phase 2b trial following the administration of a booster dose of the candidate malaria vaccine, R21, in … read more

Results from a phase 1 clinical trial looking at the use of low-dose subcutaneous or intravenous monoclonal antibody to prevent … read more

The results of a phase 1 clinical trial of monoclonal antibody to prevent malaria have been published in the New … read more

A study, published in Science, reports the discovery of a new drug that me able to stop the spread of malaria … read more

Experts reacted to speculation in the news that adverse effects of antimalarial drugs may have played a role in the … read more

A report by the House of Commons Defence Committee has looked at the use of the antimalarial mefloquine among military personnel and its associated risks. read more

Mefloquine (also known by the trade name Lariam) is an anti-malarial drug that has been in use for over thirty years and is on the World Health Organisation’s List of Essential Medicines. It is the primary anti-malarial drug prescribed to members of the armed forces in the UK, but recent controversy about psychiatric side effects have led some to call for it to be replaced with a different anti-malarial treatment. While potential psychiatric side effects from mefloquine use have been documented for many years, the extent to which psychiatric issues in the armed forces may be due to the drugs is complicated and unclear due to the elevated risk of certain psychiatric conditions within this group. The Ministry of Defence has opened into an inquiry into the use of mefloquine in the armed forces, and is currently hearing evidence from various experts and individuals. read more

The European Medicines Agency has delivered a positive opinion on a malaria vaccine for use outside of the European Union in babies. read more

Two papers have been published in the Lancet and Lancet Infectious Diseases journals: one which presents the results of a phase III clinical trial of a candidate malaria vaccine which the research team report to effective in reducing malaria transmission, and another which has estimated the number of cases of and deaths from malaria in West African countries affected by the current Ebola outbreak. read more

The author’s of a new study led by scientists from the Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute in Cambridge came to the SMC to discuss the findings of a new study which identified a potential Achilles’ heel of the malaria parasite with the potential to lead to new drugs and vaccines. read more

Scientists in Cambodia have reported growing resistance to the artemesinin family of drugs, which currently the most effective treatments for malaria available. read more

Malaria is still a major global health problem, killing up to one million people every year, most of them young children. The World Health Organization recommends artemisinin combination therapies (ACTs), as the most effective treatments available today. Artemisinin is extracted from a plant and production is expensive, lead times are long and supplies are unreliable. Furthermore, demand is expected to significantly outstrip supply over the next few years. A report being launched today at the All Party Parliamentary Group for Malaria discusses using molecular plant breeding, GM microbes and a new synthetic drug in order to prevent this global problem. Leading scientists in the field came to the SMC to discuss these issues and the feasibility of new treatments. read more

The paper reported that dual infection with both HIV and malaria fuels the spread of both diseases in Sub-Saharan Africa. read more

Tropical disease researchers announced research concluding that because the “big three” infections-AIDS, TB and malaria-have caught the world’s attention countless other disabling and fatal infectious diseases in Africa have been pushed into the shadows. read more

Comments are in response to a new synthetic drug which has been produced. Modelled on the active ingredient in a traditional Chinese herbal remedy for malaria, it could prove to herald a breakthrough in treatment. read more

Progress by the global community to halve the malaria death toll by 2010 as part of the Roll Back Malaria initiative is scandalously slow. We welcome Dr David Molyneux and Dr Vinand Nantulya to outline their research on new approaches for tackling malaria, to be published in the BMJ, and to call for a radical shift in current malaria control strategies. read more

The comments follow the announcement, published in both Nature and Science, that the genomes of both the malaria parasite and the mosquito have been sequenced, raising hopes for the eventual development of a cure for malaria. read more