Malaria vaccine: India, Africa don’t get hopes up

As countries like India and Africa – hotbeds for malaria – await the world’s first vaccine against the disease, a leading expert said the results of clinical trials were “modestly encouraging”, but nations should be cautious. For David Warrell, international director at the Royal College of Physicians (RCP), the catch lies in proper funding by charitable organisations to enable the RTS,S/AS01 vaccine being made available at reasonable rates to people in developing nations. The vaccine is speculated to come out by 2015. “There should be low expectations initially, unless it is taken up by these massive charities. Expectations should be low because of the cost. If wealthy billionaires in India decide they would invest money on this, they could make it happen,” Warrell said here. He was addressing reporters on the sidelines of “Medicon International 2013” organised by RCP in collaboration with Peerless Hospital and B.K.Roy Foundation, Kolkata. RTS,S/ASO1 has been developed by British drugmakers...