Under the guidance of TI Pharma, Sanaria and two Dutch universities will further previous findings.
Sanaria and two Dutch institutes, Radboud University Nijmegen Medical Centre as well as Leiden University Medical Center, formed a consortium under the auspices of Top Institute Pharma (TI Pharma) to develop a malaria vaccine. The TI Pharma project will have a budget of €16 million, or $23.6 million, over four years.
The program will be an expansion of important findings from previous studies. For example, “Sanaria’s primary vaccine candidate is composed of parasites treated with radiation, which renders the parasites unable to cause disease, but able to trigger a high, long-lasting degree of protection against malaria in the recipient,” explains Stephen Hoffman, CEO of the firm.
The research at the Dutch universities, on the other hand, aims at weaking the parasite through genetic modification, according to Robert Sauerwein of Radboud University Nijmegen Medical Centre.
