The goal of this five-year project is to systematically develop and test vaccines directed against the asexual blood stages of malaria parasites by comparative and continuous evaluation of candidates. Exploiting the capabilities of two SMEs, eight European malaria vaccine research centres, the European Malaria Vaccine Initiative (EMVI) and African Partner Groups already linked through the African Malaria Network (AMANET), the best candidates from a group of projects in a candidate development pipeline - that reaches from antigen validation and the creation of a vaccine development rationale to early proof-of-principle clinical trials – will be selected and their development promoted.

Our key goal is to identify specific malaria parasite antigens that have potential for development as candidate vaccines and move these as quickly as possible to clinical studies. Inherent in this concept are clear criteria for progression.

The EMVDA project is organised into six work package groups:
1. Candidate antigens
2. Platforms and adjuvants
3. Vaccine development cross-cutting issues (including assays for vaccine evaluation)
4. Demonstration activities including GMP production and phase I and phase IIa trials
5. Training, integration and partnership activities
6. Management activities comprising both consortium management and product development management.

EMVDA is supported by the European Commission (contract LSHP-CT-2007-037506)


In summary, the EMVDA brings together Europe’s leading malaria vaccine researchers and pan-Union initiatives in an unprecedented collaboration with vaccine SMEs to drive the production and clinical development of an effective vaccine to protect those vulnerable to this disease and thus aid human development.