GenVec presents encouraging data from malaria vaccine study

In an announcement that has been widely anticipated, Maryland, USA-based biotechnology firm GenVec presented encouraging clinical and preclinical malaria vaccine data at the Keystone Symposium - Malaria: New Approaches to Understanding Host-Parasite Interactions taking place this week in Copper Mountain, Colorado.

Data from the Phase I/IIa malaria trial using GenVec technology indicate malaria vaccines given to malaria-naive adults were found to be safe and well-tolerated with minimal local or systemic reactions and no serious vaccine-related adverse reactions. Sterile protection, a complete absence of parasites in the blood, was seen in four out of 15 volunteers that had been inoculated with the vaccine and subsequently challenged with the malaria parasite.

This clinical trial is being conducted under sponsorship from the US Army Medical Materiel Development Activity and with financial support from the US Agency for International Development, the Congressionally Directed Peer Review Medical Program and the Military Infectious Diseases Research Program.