A multilateral initiative to foster the clinical development of effective malaria vaccine candidates in Africa (MIMVaC-Africa)

Objectives

The overall objective of the MIMVaC-Africa consortium is to accelerate the development of highly effective malaria vaccines that meet the goals set by the WHO Malaria Vaccine Technology Roadmap. The two main objectives are:

• to evaluate pre-erythrocytic and blood-stage candidate malaria vaccines for safety, immunogenicity and efficacy against experimental and later natural challenge with P. falciparum and identify the most promising candidates for further clinical development in phase III trials.

• to build and strengthen the capacity of African research institutions to evaluate candidate malaria vaccines using the CHMI model and adopt state-of-the-art technologies for assessing immune correlates of protection.

To achieve that, the consortium is basing its strategy on four main pillars:

1. Assembling knowledgeable partners including malariologists, vaccines developers, trialists Sub-Saharan Africa and Europe including America and Asia. This project will strengthen cross fertilization of EDCTP’s Networks of Excellence from East, South, Central and West Africa
2. Leveraging the recently developed African controlled human malaria infection (CHMI) challenge model capacity during the first two years of the project to rapidly test and compare targeted malaria vaccine candidates and down-select the most promising one
3. Conduct phase 1/2 CHMI trials followed by a phase 2b multicenter trials in the African children under natural exposure to P. falciparum infection in very experienced and GCP compliant research institutions in Africa to generate evidence that will support smooth progress to large phase 3 trials
4. Engage a dialogue with regulatory authorities, Ministries of Health, and important local and international stakeholders about setting a mechanism that would facilitate continuous engagement to report the progress of the project, and discuss requirements for expedited deployment of a successful candidate.