UPDATE 1-GAVI alliance offers matched funds for GSK malaria vaccine pilot

(Adds details, comments from GAVI officials)
By Kate Kelland, Health and Science Correspondent
LONDON, June 23 (Reuters) - The GAVI global vaccine alliance
has offered funding of up to $27.5 million for pilot tests of
GlaxoSmithKline's GSK.L first-generation malaria vaccine, but
only if other organisations promise to match that commitment.
Evidence so far on the shot, developed by the British
drugmaker with financial backing from the Bill & Melinda Gates
Foundation, "suggests a malaria vaccine could have a significant
impact in reducing malaria mortality in Africa", but more
research is needed, GAVI said.
Speaking to Reuters after a board meeting in Geneva, Seth
Berkley, GAVI's chief executive, said the alliance was ready "to
play its part" in backing the first phase pilot studies if other
funders also came forward. GAVI is working with UNITAID and the
Global Fund to Fight AIDS, TB and Malaria on the issue, he said.
He added, however, that GAVI's board had made clear that
this "should not be considered as an indication of future GAVI
funding" for this vaccine, or for future similar pilot schemes
for other vaccines.
Since the vaccine - known as RTS,S or Mosquirix - is only
partially effective and needs to be given in a four dose
schedule outside normal childhood vaccination plans, experts
have questioned its potential usefulness and cost effectiveness.
The World Health Organization (WHO) said last year that
while Mosquirix is promising, it should be deployed only on a
pilot basis before any wide-scale use, given its limited
efficacy.
The WHO is now in the process of finalising the design of
the pilots in three African locations. The projects are expected
to delay any possible broader roll-out of Mosquirix by between
three and five years.
"Measuring the vaccine's impact in real life settings is
what will ultimately help the health community assess the value
of this vaccine in the fight against malaria along with other
existing interventions," Berkley said.
Malaria infects around 200 million people a year worldwide
and killed an estimated 440,000 in 2015. The vast majority of
malaria deaths are among babies in sub-Saharan Africa.
GAVI, which is backed by the Bill & Melinda Gates
Foundation, the WHO, the World Bank, UNICEF, donor governments
and others, funds bulk-buy vaccination programmes for poorer
nations that can't afford shots at developed-economy prices.
"Malaria's heavy burden on Africa means it is vital that we
understand the impact of this vaccine in communities," Ngozi
Okonjo-Iweala, chair of GAVI's board and who is also a former
Nigerian finance minister, said in a statement. "We call on
others to come forward with sufficient funding to enable the
pilots to proceed."