Seattle Biomedical Research Institute said today it has officially started the first human clinical trial of its malaria vaccine candidate. The trial will assess the safety of a genetically engineered version of the malaria parasite. I wrote about this trial in depth back in March based on an interview with Seattle BioMed’s lead researcher on the program, Stefan Kappe. If the vaccine candidate passes this initial safety test, the Seattle-based nonprofit said it plans to start a mid-stage trial, in late 2010 or early 2011, to examine the vaccine’s effectiveness.
Author: Luke Timmerman
Luke is an award-winning journalist specializing in life sciences. He has served as national biotechnology editor for Xconomy and national biotechnology reporter for Bloomberg News. Luke got started covering life sciences at The Seattle Times, where he was the lead reporter on an investigation of doctors who leaked confidential information about clinical trials to investors. The story won the Scripps Howard National Journalism Award and several other national prizes. Luke holds a bachelor’s degree in journalism from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, and during the 2005-2006 academic year, he was a Knight Science Journalism Fellow at MIT.
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