MALARIA VACCINE: NAFDAC TO BEGIN CLINICAL TRIALS IN SIX WEEKS.
Written by AIGBOKHAEBHO OKHUELEIGBE on April 27, 2023
The Director General of the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control, NAFDAC, Professor Mojisola Adeyeye, says the approval process for the R21/Matrix-M malaria vaccine requires more clinical trials before its full use.
Prof. Adeyeye, on a televised programme, said the provision of the vaccine was important for transmission prevention, insisting that NAFDAC would conduct its own test, trials and levels of approval.
She said:
The clinical trial will begin within the next six weeks. The RTS,S did not include Nigeria, because from the beginning the effectiveness was 30 per cent, so we did not agree to join the clinical trial.
For the R21, after reading the dossier, I believe Nigeria should join. This is because we have a high probability of success. If something is 75 per cent effective from the beginning, then we know they are very likely to be successful. It has 75 per cent effectiveness for a malaria vaccine, which is great.
However, it is not what is written only that we know the efficacy; we have to check every line of the dossier to ensure that science speaks. This is science-driven. What we did was to have two sets of reviews.
The NAFDAC boss said the clinical trial will begin within the next six weeks.
NAFDAC made public the development of the vaccine about two weeks ago.
