Prognosis
Covid Vaccine Maker BioNTech Attempts Shot for Malaria Next
- Effort by biotech could be transformative, WHO official says
- Malaria has long been a difficult target for vaccine makers
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BioNTech SE will seek to follow its successful Covid-19 vaccine with a shot to prevent malaria, marking its first solo project and first new infectious-disease effort since the pandemic began.
The German biotech aims to start patient trials of a malaria shot by the end of next year. Backed by the World Health Organization, European Commission and the kENUP Foundation, the project will simultaneously seek to build out the infrastructure needed to produce any successful malaria shot, and other messenger RNA vaccines, in Africa, BioNTech Chief Executive Officer Ugur Sahin said.