Gennova Biopharmaceuticals Ltd (GBL) is collaborating with the Path Malaria Vaccine Initiative (MVI) to create a dedicated malaria vaccine manufacturing facility.

Path MVI is a focused vaccine development programme created through a grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.

Under the GBL-MVI agreement, MVI will provide partial financial support to GBL to establish a cGMP compliant manufacturing facility able to produce recombinant protein-based malaria vaccine candidates.

Dr Sanjay Singh, CEO, Gennova Biopharmaceuticals said, "The funding was based on the scientific and business synergies that exist between the two organizations".

MVI is providing financial support for the first time to equip a dedicated recombinant protein manufacturing facility to produce cGMP grade malaria vaccine candidates for use in phase I and phase II clinical trials.

Dr Christian Loucq, director, Path Malaria Vaccine Initiative said, "At the Path Malaria Vaccine Initiative, we believe in making investments that move the field forward. With this investment, we are helping to fill the community's need for a facility where high-quality manufacturing of recombinant proteins can take place".

GBL has created a consortium through which the US National Institutes of Health will conduct laboratory animal trials for testing the efficacy of the vaccine candidates produced at GBL. The National Institute of Malaria Research (NIMR), India will conduct epidemiological studies using human sera from malarial endemic regions in India. NIMR will also conduct phase I and phase II human clinical trials for the selected vaccine candidates at its well-established clinical trial centres.

Malaria kills one child every 30 seconds and is a major health problem in India, sub-Saharan Africa, and other parts of the world. A malaria vaccine would be an important tool in the fight against malaria.