GSK to provide malaria vaccines for Gavi eligible countries

The new development will arm healthcare providers with a vital tool to address the steep rise of malaria cases in children living in Africa.

GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) has welcomed the decision of the Gavi Board to provide funding for the development and introduction of malaria vaccines into routine child immunisation programmes in Gavi eligible countries.

This follows the World Health Organisation’s (WHO) recommendation for the broader use of GSK’s RTS,S/AS01e to combat the issue of childhood illness and deaths from malaria in children living in sub-Saharan Africa and other regions with moderate to high transmission, as defined by WHO.

Africa continues to have the heaviest malaria burden and African children are at highest risk of dying of malaria. Over 260,000 African children under the age of five died from malaria in 2019 and COVID-19 has only exacerbated this disease burden. This highlights the ever-growing, urgent need for new and innovative tools to combat malaria.

RTS,S/AS01e is the result of over 35 years of research led by GSK, with nonprofit health organisation PATH and other partners.
It is the first and only malaria vaccine to have been shown in pivotal long-term clinical trials to significantly reduce malaria in children.

Thomas Breuer, chief global health officer at GSK, commented: “Our malaria vaccine is a new and important tool that is urgently needed given rising numbers of malaria cases in African children. The vaccine has the potential to have a significant impact on the burden of malaria in Sub-Saharan Africa. Gavi’s funding decision is a critical next step in ensuring access to the malaria vaccine for children who need it, by creating visibility around potential demand for the vaccine, as well as local implementation needs.

“We have been a proud partner of Gavi since it was founded in 2000 and look forward to continuing to work with Gavi and other partners to develop solutions to ensure sustainable access to the malaria vaccine.”