World’s First Malaria Vaccine Approved

European regulators have given the green light to the world's first malaria vaccine. The breakthrough comes after 28 years of development, and the European Medicines Agency's decision could clear the way for a World Health Organization recommendation and the vaccine's eventual adoption in sub-Saharan Africa and beyond.

From Al-Jazeera:

The shot, called RTS,S or Mosquirix, would be the first licensed human vaccine against a parasitic disease and could help prevent millions of cases of malaria in countries that use it.

The vaccine was developed by British drugmaker GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) in partnership with the PATH Malaria Vaccine Initiative.

Recommendations for a drug licence made by the European Medicines Agency (EMA) are normally endorsed by the European Commission within a couple of months.

Mosquirix, also part-funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, will also now be assessed by the World Health Organisation, which has promised to give its guidance on when and where it should be used before the end of this year.

Malaria killed an estimated 584,000 people in 2013, the vast majority of them in sub-Saharan Africa.

More than 80 percent of malaria deaths are in children under the age of five.