This area of our work seeks to protect mosquitoes from the malaria parasite.
MVI has outlined two priority program areas of work through 2020, with the goal of declaring at least one product development candidate—a potential second-generation vaccine—targeting either malaria parasite transmission or prevention of infection. Preventing transmission of the malaria parasite is the goal of MVI’s transmission-blocking vaccine (TBV) program.
A TBV is designed to prevent mosquitoes carrying malaria parasites from spreading them. A TBV would break the cycle of parasite transmission by protecting the mosquito from the malaria parasite even after the mosquito feeds on an infected person.
While a TBV, by itself, would not provide a direct and immediate benefit to the immunized individual against infection and illness, the vaccine would reduce the chances that other individuals in the community get malaria. Over time, this approach would lower the probability that an immunized individual would contract malaria again.
Blocking transmission of malaria parasites is viewed as particularly important to malaria elimination and eradication efforts, including prevention of reintroduction of the disease. When used in conjunction with other malaria control tools, a TBV could help push a geographic region past the threshold of control to elimination and, ultimately, eradication.