In a significant stride towards combating malaria, a newly formed consortium known as OptiViVax has set its sights on developing next-generation vaccines that promise increased efficacy against Plasmodium vivax (P. vivax), the most prevalent human malaria-causing pathogen.
This endeavor brings together academic institutions, industry leaders, and non-profit organizations to merge cutting-edge advancements in parasite immunology, vaccine design, and innovative pre-clinical and clinical studies over the next five years.
Malaria remains a grave global health concern, with approximately 2.5 billion people living at risk of infection in regions spanning Africa, South America, Oceania, and Asia.
Although two approved vaccines effectively target P. falciparum, a different malaria parasite, none have yet been developed to combat P. vivax. The latter poses unique challenges due to variations in its transmission patterns and disease manifestations. Unlike P. falciparum, a single P. vivax infection can result in recurrent illness initiated by dormant liver stages of the parasite.
This relapsing characteristic is estimated to account for the majority of new P. vivax infections (80-90%).
Moreover, the severity of vivax malaria, particularly among young children and pregnant women, has come into sharp focus through recent studies. The revised Malaria Vaccine Technology Roadmap to 2030, facilitated by the World Health Organization, underlines the need for a vaccine against P. vivax with 75% efficacy over two years, placing it on equal footing with P. falciparum.
The OptiViVax consortium amalgamates the diverse expertise of its partners encompassing vaccine development, manufacturing, and clinical trials. Leveraging their collective strengths in P. vivax immuno-biology, preclinical functional assays, vaccine development, controlled human malaria infection (CHMI) clinical models, and advanced GMP bio-manufacturing techniques, the consortium aims to pioneer next-generation vaccines with enhanced efficacy.
New functional assays and human challenge models will provide the basis for informed decision-making by the clinical vaccine community, policy makers, funders, and regulators.
This groundbreaking project has secured funding from the European Union, the United Kingdom government, and the Swiss State Secretariat for Education, Research, and Innovation (SERI). The consortium’s kick-off meeting was recently held at the University of Oxford in the UK, convening project partners from the EU, Ethiopia, Switzerland, and the UK. Their collaborative efforts are geared towards the development of a first generation of P. vivax vaccines.
The OptiViVax initiative is co-funded through the European Union Horizon Europe programme (grant agreement No. 101080744) and receives additional support from UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) under the UK government’s Horizon Europe funding guarantee, as well as the Swiss State Secretariat for Education, Research, and Innovation (SERI).