Glaxo Malaria Vaccine Cuts Risk by Half

for at Least 15 Months, Study Says

By Simeon Bennett – Jan 13, 2011

GlaxoSmithKline Plc’s experimental malaria vaccine, already shown to cut the risk of children contracting the disease by half after 8 months, was equally effective after 15, a study showed.

Youngsters in Africa who got the shot, called Mosquirix, were 46 percent less likely to contract malaria than those who received a rabies vaccine, according to the study published in the journal Lancet Infectious Diseases.

The findings suggest the London-based drugmaker may have succeeded where others have failed in developing the world’s first effective shot against the deadliest mosquito-borne disease. Glaxo expects to have the results of final-stage trials by late this year or early next, Chief Executive Officer Andrew Witty said in October.

“We’ve never had a malaria vaccine get this far in its development and continue to show such promise,” Robert Newman, director of the World Health Organization’s Global Malaria Programme, said in a telephone interview today. “It’s promising and encouraging.”

Malaria infected about 225 million people and killed about 781,000 in 2009, mostly children in sub-Saharan Africa, the Geneva-based WHO said in December. That makes it the world’s third-deadliest infectious disease behind AIDS and tuberculosis.

Researchers including Philip Bejon, from the Kenya Medical Research Institute in Kilifi, Kenya, tested the vaccine on more than 800 children between ages 5 and 17 months in Tanzania and Kenya. The children either received a rabies vaccine or Mosquirix with a so-called adjuvant designed to boost the effect.

New Analysis

An initial analysis, published in December 2008, showed the vaccine cut the number of children infected with malaria by 53 percent after 8 months. The new analysis found “no evidence of waning efficacy,” Bejon and colleagues wrote.

The most common adverse events were pneumonia, fits with fevers and stomach inflammation, with fewer events reported among children who received the malaria vaccine compared with those who got the rabies shot. The researchers are now studying the vaccine in 15,000 infants in seven countries.

Glaxo expects the cost of the vaccine, if successful, to be “the lowest practical cost sustainable over time,” Witty told reporters on a conference call in October. The drugmaker will “price it at the cost of manufacturing, with only a very small return, around 5 percent,” which Witty has pledged to deploy in research for more treatments of neglected tropical diseases.

The study was funded by Glaxo and the Bethesda, Maryland- based PATH Malaria Vaccine Initiative, which is in turn sponsored by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, the world’s richest charity.

Assuming results of the next trial are positive, Glaxo plans to seek regulatory approval for the shot in Europe, Stephen Rea, a spokesman, said in a telephone interview today. The WHO wants to wait for data on the effectiveness of the vaccine after 30 months, due in 2014, before it makes a policy recommendation on the vaccine, Newman said.

To contact the reporter on this story: Simeon Bennett in Singapore at sbennett9@bloomberg.net

December 30, 2010January 3, 2013

The fight against HIV/AIDS needs a pragmatic approach (update)

K. Amponsah-Manager

On December 14 2010, the World Health Organization (WHO), the UN agency which over ten years ago started a campaign to cut the number of malaria cases and deaths in half by 2010, reported that Malaria is fast declining in countries where it had been endemic. The report was surprisingly optimistic that we could have a malaria-free world by 2015!

The progress on the malaria front did not come by wishful thinking; it was the result of pragmatic efforts on the part of governments and various organizations. In the past three years alone, 578 million people at risk of malaria have been provided with insecticide-treated mosquito nets. Another 75 million have benefited from indoor residual spraying, the report said.

While such a report gladdens our hearts, it should also remind us of the twin brother HIV/AIDS.

Significant efforts have been expended in combating the spread of HIV with some results to show already. However, it is believed that what has been achieved is minimal compared to what is possible if the energy already spent was used to do the right thing most of the time.

There is the popular notion that HIV is caused by people doing stupid things, and some even think it is a curse for our disobedience of natural laws. Surely, there are some who are living with the virus as a result of doing stupid things, but that is just part of the story. In any case, such perception does nothing to save the millions who continue to contract the virus each year. Some of them are our brothers, sisters, uncles, and our teachers.

Rather than perpetuating the stigma associated with AIDS, I will suggest it is time we spend that energy to discuss how to curtail the rate of spread of the killer and save lives of mothers, fathers, and infants, some of whom have to live with the parasite for no fault of theirs.

There are practical ways that work and those are what we need to focus on. I’ll mention only two here for the sake of space.

Case 1: Sharing needles by drug users: The consequences of the use of illicit drugs on the health of our citizens and the effect it has on our economies and health care system are well known. The practice can therefore never be condoned or encouraged

But the reality is that people will continue to abuse drugs. Several studies have established that the sharing of needles by drug users is a significant avenue for contracting the HIV.

The approach here has to be two fold. The first is a continued education on the consequences of sharing needles which I believe is already well known. The second I think should be an effort on the parts of governments and foundations to consider providing accessible avenues by which the addicts can obtain clean needled when the lust for the substance is uncontrollable. They will continue to use the drugs anyway, but why should we look on while such acts continue to overburden the already stressed health and economic structures and continue to add to the AIDS statistics.

Case 2: Laboratory and epidemiologic studies have shown that even though condoms are not 100% HIV/AIDS-proof, the use of condoms in sexual intercourse reduces the risks of HIV infection significantly. We would wish that people will abstain from sex until they’re in a committed relationship, but the reality is that this approach will not work for all. The truth is that HIV is acquired by having unprotected sex with someone carrying the virus, and not just by having sex.

The massive campaign to encourage the provision and use of mosquito nets is yielding results with the possibility that we could have a world without malaria in less than a decade. It’s time to do same for AIDS.

The campaign to encourage people to stay away from sex until marriage or until they’re in a committed relationship should continue. However, this weapon will work for only a fraction of the population. It is time to be practical and tell people in a plain language that if you cannot abstain, then they should simply cover it.

Even though, it may be appear rather radical, I may suggest that Governments, Non-governmental Organizations (NGOs) and foundations working on HIV/AIDS in Africa should consider making condoms (both male and female condoms) available for free to prostitutes (at least, until a solution is found to the problem of prostitution).

Given the choice, I’ll rather opt to use our scarce national resources to do that which will produce tangible and measurable results.

To the toddler taking care of a sick single HIV/AIDS parent, the issue here is not just statistics, it is life.

Let us learn from the anti-malaria campaign.

(To learn more on Condoms and HIV, click here)

November 30, 2010April 1, 2011

Why African women are saying YES to the female condom

Female condoms campaign

An estimated 22.5 million people are living with HIV in the part of African below the Sahara – around two thirds of the global total. The use of condom during sex is one of several preventive measures against HIV/AIDS. Unfortunately, in most communities, it is difficult to get the men to use the condom.

Some of the excuses men give against the use of condoms are:

it is a sin to use condoms

For these reasons, some anti-HIV campaigns have shifted focus onto the women and educating them to protect themselves if the men will not. The female condom has become and alternative to an increasing number of women which they resort to anytime their partners refuse to use the male condom.

The female condom is a thin, soft loose-fitting polyurethane plastic pouch that is used during intercourse to prevent pregnancy and reduce the risk of sexually transmitted diseases. It has flexible rings at each end. Just before vaginal intercourse, it is inserted deep into the vagina. The ring at the closed end holds the pouch in the vagina. The ring at the open end stays outside the vaginal opening during intercourse. And during anal intercourse, it is inserted into the anus.

If women always use the female condom correctly only 5% of users will report unexpected pregnancy each year. It can even be made more effective if used with a spermicide

Warning: Most spermicides contain nonoxynol-9 which has certain risks. If it is used many times a day, or by people at risk for HIV, it may irritate tissue and increase the risk of HIV and other sexually transmitted infections.

The major limitation of the female condom reported is the coverage of the external genitalia. This coverage had a particularly negative impact on the device’s aesthetics, and noise associated with use.

Again difficulties associated with insertion and removal, discomfort, messiness and inconvenience are easily reported issues.

With estimated 22.5 million people living with HIV in just the part of African below the Sahara, it’s highly welcomed that women are taking charge over their own health even if their male counterparts aren’t on board yet.

We hope our effort here contributes in some way to the campaign. Our hope is a world without HIV and Malaria.

[youtube]zjmoQlAQP4Y&feature=player_embedded[/youtube]

The penis is directed into the pouch through the ring at the end, which stays outside the vaginal during the intercourse. By covering the inside of the vagina or anus and keeping semen and pre-cum out, female condoms reduce the risk of sexually transmitted infections.

The female condom was first made from polyuthrane. This version is officially called the FC FEMALE CONDOM. A newer version is made of nitrile rubber and called FC2. It is made from natural latex; the same material is used in male condoms.

The newer nitrile condoms are less likely to make potentially distracting crinkling noises. FC1 and FC2 are the only female condoms encouraged by the World Health Organization. They are sold under many brand names, including Reality Femidom, Dominique, Femy, My Femy, Protective and Care.

A target campaign to promote the female condom in some African communities is turning it into a mainstream women accessory; more and more now carries the female condom in their purse.

It is more acceptable to the men as it does not result in a significant decrease in sensation as with the male latex condom. Female condoms do not constrict the penis as do latex condoms. As a result, sensitivity of the male partner may not be substantially reduced.

it decreases pleasure or enjoyment of sex

it ruins the mood

I can’t feel anything when I’m wearing a condom

if a women loves me, then she you should just trust me

October 31, 2010January 9, 2011

Sure, mosquitoes suck!

The fights against malaria enlists the celebrity power

Celebrities join the fight against malaria.

Although malaria was eradicated in the United States nearly 60 years ago, it continues to claim the lives of more than 850,000 people every year, most of them children under the age of 5 in Africa.

Malaria No More has made it a mission to raise money and awareness for the cause, working with policymakers, companies and NGOs (including the United States Fund for UNICEF) to increase the availability of insecticide-treated bed nets that halt transmission of malaria by mosquitoes. Their goal: End malaria-related deaths in Africa by 2015.

Among their fundraising tools: A “Mosquitoes Suck” T-shirt.

Last year, the nonprofit made headlines after Ashton Kutcher hit one million Twitter followers, donated $100,000 and motivated his fellow celebs and followers to do so as well.

Now they’re moving in another direction with their Comedy Fights Malaria campaign, featuring viral videos and PSAs from 25 comedians and celebs.

Among those stepping up: Ed Helms and B.J. Novak of “The Office,” John Mayer, Elizabeth Banks, and Nick Kroll. Their video features footage from a trip to Senegal this summer where they witnessed the malaria epidemic firsthand.

“Comedy Fights Malaria is a fresh, different, and truly funny way to get people thinking about a serious opportunity to save lives,” said Novak, a creative force behind the campaign.

Also signed up: Aziz Ansari (“If malaria were a person I would kick it in the face!”), Will Arnett, Orlando Bloom, Ted Danson, Sarah Gilbert, Elliott Gould, Josh Groban, Rachel Harris, Jeremy Piven, and Jason Schwartzman.

Kroll brought his Jersey Shore-esque character Bobby Bottleservice to Africa, and came up with a novel solution to the epidemic: Get all the flies together by creating a club, complete with fist-pumping music and a goat DJ. (Uhm, Mr. Bottleservice, that’s mosquitoes we’re concerned about!)

Original story by CBS

October 11, 2010January 21, 2011

The Hero Mosquito in Sierra Leone

In 2008, Ian McLeod-McClean, a sex offender from Ashford, Kent, United Kingdom, fled to Sierra Leone after he was charged with abusing three girls. Mr. McLeod-McClean, 48, has just been deported to the UK after visiting a hospital in Sierra Leone after he was hit with malaria. Last week, at a court in Maidstone Crown, he admitted to 23 sex crimes against several girls. His sentence is due Oct 28.

But for the relentless effort of the hero mosquito, the sex offender Mr. McLeod-McClean would be hiding in Sierra Leone doing his own thing to other innocent girls. In an ideal world, we would wish that all mosquitoes will emulate this hero. Unfortunately, a child dies of malarial every 30 seconds. What does that translate to in a year?