Second Possible Malaria Vaccine Blocked By Politics

French researchers said that their malaria vaccine looked promising in a phase 1 study but added that politics continue to stall a long-delayed phase 2 study.According to Monsters and Critics:

'The implementation of the phase 2 trial could`ve been done four years ago, but for reasons that are not scientific, which have been painful to me, the study still has not started,' principal investigator of the study Pierre Druilhe of the Institut Pasteur in Paris told United Press International.'There is too much politics going on in the development of vaccines,' he said.'We have interest from both (Glaxo SmithKline) and Sanofi Pasteur,' Druilhe noted.Both companies have supported his research with small research-and-development grants for eight years, he said.However, funding for the phase 2 study will come from the government and is already available. The delay in initiating phase 2 is not due to a lack of interest from industry, but rather 'poor organization and coordination,' Druilhe said.