NIAID Launches Malaria Monoclonal Antibody Trial - Contagionlive.com
In 2018, scientists discovered a human antibody which protected mice from the malaria-causing Plasmodium falciparum parasite. Now, a phase 1 clinical trial sponsored by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), part of the National Institutues of Health, has begun enrolling healthy adult volunteers. The study will test the safety and effectiveness of monoclonal antibody CIS43LS (mAb CIS43LS) used as prophylaxis against malaria. The trial is currently enrolling volunteers at the National Institutes of Health Clinical Center in Bethesda, Maryland. It will be the first to test mAb CIS43LS in humans. Study author Robert Seder, MD, Chief, Cellular Immunology Section for NIAID, told Contagion® that previous attempts to develop a Malaria vaccine had limited efficacy in the field relative to the results seen in US trials, encouraging investigators to pursue new avenues. "A monoclonal is not a vaccine, because it has a limited lifespan. The antibody is given