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Biontech founders and spouses: Özlem Türeci (left) and Uğur Şahin
Photo: Ramon Haindl / DER SPIEGEL
The Mainz-based pharmaceutical manufacturer Biontech is starting the development of a vaccine against malaria: with the aim of producing the world's first vaccine against this disease based on mRNA technology.
According to SPIEGEL information, the Biontech founders Uğur Şahin and Özlem Türeci want to announce this this Monday afternoon at an event organized by the non-profit kENUP Foundation.
Accordingly, Biontech plans to start clinical trials of its new malaria vaccine as early as next year.
The drug could then possibly be administered en masse in 2023 or 2024.
So far there is only one approved vaccine worldwide with limited effectiveness against plasmodia, the causative agent of malaria.
With a highly effective malaria vaccine, Biontech could become the world's dominant supplier of drugs based on messenger or messenger RNA technology.
The German company created the first and most widely administered mRNA vaccine against the novel coronavirus.
And it wants to use this technology to fight other diseases too.
Biontech is currently testing 14 clinical product candidates against cancer in 15 ongoing studies, and the company is developing mRNA vaccines against nine different infectious diseases.
Clinical trials for an mRNA vaccine against tuberculosis are also expected to start in 2022.
According to experts, mRNA technology (short for messenger or messenger RNA) could revolutionize the global pharmaceutical industry.
According to a forecast by the investment bank Berenberg Capital Markets, the market for mRNA drugs is expected to grow to $ 88 billion by 2030.
Biontech boss Şahin told SPIEGEL at the end of June: "In 15 years, a third of all drugs will be based on mRNA technology."
Here, messenger RNA molecules produced in the laboratory are injected into the human body.
There they transmit the information to cells to fight certain pathogens.
A toddler dies of malaria every two minutes
The malaria vaccine should also work according to this principle.
Similar to the corona vaccine, Biontech initially wants to test various vaccine candidates preclinically;
The clinical studies for the most promising candidate or candidates should then start at the end of 2022.
The drug will then be produced, at least in part, in Africa - the continent that suffers by far the most from malaria.
According to estimates by the World Health Organization, around 229 million people are infected with malaria each year, and more than 400,000 die from the disease.
Around two thirds of the fatalities are children under the age of five.
This means: on average, a small child dies from the disease every two minutes.
And: More than 90 percent of all cases are registered in Africa.
“Together with our partners, we will do everything to develop a safe and effective mRNA vaccine,” says Biontech boss Şahin, that prevents the disease, reduces mortality and offers a sustainable solution for the African continent and other affected regions . «The project is supported by the World Health Organization (WHO) and the African Union, among others.
So far, only one malaria vaccine has been approved worldwide: Mosquirix (RTS, S).
This non-mRNA-based preparation has been administered in pilot projects in Ghana, Kenya and Malawi since 2019.
Its effectiveness against infections is around 36 percent, well below the WHO target of 75 percent.
In addition, four syringes must be given.
The further development of Mosquirix appears to be more promising: the as yet unapproved, non-mRNA-based vaccine R21 / MM from the University of Oxford.
In a phase 2 study on 450 young children in Burkina Faso, this vaccine protected the vaccinated subjects 77 percent from the tropical disease.
The Tübingen-based company Curevac has been researching an mRNA-based malaria vaccine for several years.
Biontech wants to finance the malaria project initially with its own funds.
By selling its Sars-CoV2 vaccine "Comirnaty", the company currently has a lot of money to research and test new drugs.
With worldwide sales and booster vaccinations, Biontech could still make money for years to come.
Since »Comirnaty« no longer protects the vaccinated against the Delta mutant quite as well as against previous virus variants, the company is now preparing a vaccine specially adapted for Delta.
