Sanaria Symposium at the European Congress on Tropical Medicine and International Health
On Thursday 19 September, a symposium entitled “PfSPZ vaccines: Phase 3 to licensure to deployment and use in elimination campaigns” was held at the European Congress on Tropical Medicine and International Health in Liverpool, U.K. Chaired by Peter G. Kremsner (University of Tubingen, Germany and Centre de Recherches Medicales de Lambarene, Gabon), Peter F. Billingsley (Sanaria Inc.) and Carsten Kohler (German Society for Tropical Medicine and International Health, DTG), the symposium was well attended and generated some excellent discussion. The symposium was composed of four presentations that provided insights into the progress of Sanaria’s PfSPZ products:
- Dr. Tom Richie (Sanaria) – PfSPZ Vaccine: Current status and plans for licensure.
- Dr. Benjamin Mordmüller (University of Tübingen) – PfSPZ-CVac: Current status and future plans.
- Dr. Salim Abdulla (Ifakara Health Institute and Bioko Island Malaria Elimination Project) – PfSPZ Vaccine: Pathway use in elimination campaigns.
- Dr. Peter Billingsley – PfSPZ vaccines: Increasing potency and reducing cost of goods for next generation.
This successful symposium was followed on Friday 20th September by a presentation from Tom Richie on behalf of the International PfSPZ Consortium entitled “Empowering malaria research in Africa: Controlled human malaria infection in Tanzania, Kenya, Gabon, Mali, Equatorial Guinea and the Gambia to test the efficacy of malaria vaccines and drugs and to investigate innate resistance and acquired immunity to malaria” which provided a comprehensive overview of the game-changing contributions of PfSPZ Challenge in creating the ability to perform controlled human malaria in infections (CHMI) without the need for infectious mosquitoes. The ability to use CHMI for the study of innate and acquired immunity to malaria and to assess the efficacy of malaria vaccines and drugs has greatly enhanced the development of research capabilities in Africa.
