Grant for malaria vaccine

Pharmaceutical company GenVec has received a small business innovation and research grant to support the company's malaria vaccine programme.

The grant of $600,000 (£300,000) over two years was given by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases and will develop enhancements in the companies search for vaccine applications against malaria.

Dr Rick King, GenVec's senior vice-president of research, said: "In addition to advancing our malaria vaccine program, work under this grant may provide improvements to our technology that could be applied to other adenovector-based vaccines and therapeutics."

The US Naval Medical Research Centre is collaborating with GenVec and is currently conducting a clinical study assessing the safety of a possible malaria vaccine developed under this programme.

Malaria is transmitted through mosquitoes and can include symptoms of fever, vomiting and headaches. If not treated, the disease can disrupt the blood flow to vital organs.

British Prime Minister Gordon Brown recently pledged to spend £100 million to help eradicate malaria by providing 20 million mosquito nets for Africa. He made his announcement during a special episode of the TV show American Idol, which was raising money to fight the disease.

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