What is RTS,S?

RTS,S is one of the leading malaria vaccine candidates. It is being developed by a partnership between the PATH Malaria Vaccine Initiative (MVI) (a grantee of the Gates Foundation), the pharmaceutical company, GlaxoSmithKline, and the Walter Reed Army Institute of Research. Recently world’s largest trial of this was launched in seven African countries: Burkina Faso, Gabon, Ghana, Kenya, Malawi, Mozambique and Tanzania. This will involve up to 16,000 children. GlaxoSmithKline Biologicals’ (GSK Bio) RTS,S is the first malaria vaccine candidate to demonstrate significant efficacy during early development to warrant Phase III testing. RTS,S is the first vaccine designed primarily for use in Africa, where malaria kills more than 800,000 people every year, the majority of them children under the age of five.