Planning for malaria vaccine development

Abstract

Over the past several years many laboratories have been engaged in basic research aimed at providing the fundamental information essential to the development of malaria vaccines. Targeted funding by the WHO TDR program and government agencies of several countries has accelerated the progress of this research. Studies in malaria immunology, parasite biochemistry, and molecular biology have progressed to the point where initiation of vaccine development is on the horizon. The malaria research community has effectively taken advantage of the important developments in the field of monoclonal antibodies, protein biochemistry, and molecular biology and have developed a very impressive and important information base [1]. These exciting developments in malaria immunology have convinced even the skeptics that the development of malaria vaccines is feasible and inevitable. The development of the malaria vaccine, however, presents an immense challenge to the scientific community. The complexity of the development process for malaria vaccine will be far beyond any vaccine development undertaken in the past and it presents many theoretical and practical problems which have not yet been systematically addressed and for which solutions will be essential if vaccine development is to be successful. At this point in time, it is instructive and necessary to consider the tasks which now still lie ahead in this endeavor. As we move from the area of basic research to the problems of implementation of the knowledge which has accrued to develop a practical vaccine, it is necessary to conscientiously devise a management strategy which can most nearly optimally address the problems inherent in exploratory and advanced vaccine development.