Assessment of the RTS,S/AS01 malaria vaccine

No licensed vaccines are available for malaria or any other human parasitic disease. The most advanced malaria vaccine candidate is RTS,S/AS01, which is directed against Plasmodium falciparum malaria. This vaccine is being assessed in a phase 3 trial at 11 sites in seven countries in sub-Saharan Africa.1 The trial has been designed to provide information to support regulatory submissions and to assess the public health role of the vaccine in infants and young children in Africa.

Many public health and international financing agencies and member states look to WHO\'s policy recommendations for guidance on use of new health interventions. In the case of malaria vaccines, WHO has formed a joint technical expert group (JTEG) to assess clinical data emerging from the RTS,S/AS01 development programme.2 JTEG reports to WHO policy advisory groups for immunisation and malaria—namely the strategic advisory group of experts on immunisation (SAGE) and the malaria policy advisory committee (MPAC). Full results from the phase 3 RTS,S/AS01 trial are expected in 2015, and JTEG will review all available data and health economic analyses once the price of the vaccine is available.