AFRICAN NETWORK
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To gain some control over the poverty-related diseases the development of affordable and locally effective treatments is needed. There are numerous projects investing huge sums of money into new treatments, these projects are primarily based in Western countries where established clinical research facilities can be found. To date the VSCR has trained more than 600 physicians from Africa, all of whom have benefited from the VSCR scholarship programme. To further facilitate capacity building for clinical research in Africa the VSCR is aiming at the development of two affiliate schools in sub-Saharan Africa. These affiliate offices will bring access to post-graduate clinical research training to hundreds of African professionals and will raise the profile of clinical research in Africa as a whole. Graduates of VSCR courses held in Africa will be able to demonstrate the knowledge and skills required to conduct clinical research to international standards of ethics, science and quality. |
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Medical Research Unit, Albert Schweitzer Hospital
The first African affiliate, primarily serving Western and Central Africa, has been established with the Research Laboratories of the Albert Schweizer Hospital in Lambarene in Gabon. A pilot course was held at this unit in June 2002 setting the stage for VSCR education in Africa. Full course programs at this unit begin in September 2004 with the Introduction to Clinical Research.
University of Cape Town
The second unit is planned to be established in Cape Town, South Africa. Based on a long-standing relationship with the University of Cape Town it is envisaged that this unit will increase its activities and become a Centre of Excellence for clinical research training in Southern Africa. The establishment of this triangle of affiliates in Africa represents the commitment of the VSCR to improving clinical research in developing countries. It is anticipated that each of the affiliates will work in close co-operation with its neighbours and with the Vienna office with a long-term goal of facilitating the training of African clinical research professionals by Africans whilst maintaining the quality and standards of the VSCR.
Malaria Vectored Vaccine Consortium (MVVC)
The integrated project entitled "Integrating capacity building and networking in the design and conduct of Phase I and II clinical trials of viral vectored candidate malaria vaccines in East and West African children and infants" was submitted to EDCTP by eight partners for funding in 2008 with successful outcome. This four-year project has a budget of Euro 7,944,149. The partners in the MVVC include Centre National de Recherche at de Formation sur le Paludisme (CNRFP) based in Burkina Faso, Kenyan Medical Research Institute(KEMRI) based in Kilifi, Medical Research Council Laboratories (MRC) The Gambia, Université Cheikh Anta Diop (UCAD) based in Senegal, European Vaccine Initiative (EVI) based in Universitäts-Klinikum Heidelberg, Germany, University of Oxford (UOXF), Okairos s.r.l. based in Italy and Vienna School of Clinical Research (VSCR) based in Austria. The overall objective of the MVVC is to develop a safe, non-reactogenic, effective and affordable malaria vaccine for use in the malaria endemic countries. Dr Babatunde Imoukhuede, the Director of Clinical and Regulatory Affairs of EVI is coordinating the MVVC.
The MVVC project is composed of four Work Packages (WPs). The first WP is concerned with overall management of the project. The second WP deals with clinical trials. As part of this WP, three clinical trials will be conducted in Burkina Faso, Kenya, The Gambia and Senegal. The first two clinical trials are Phase I trials which aim at assessing the safety and immunogenicity of ME-TRAP malaria antigen in two different vectors in a prime boost vaccination strategy. In this strategy, initial priming will be with chimpanzee Adenovirus vector (AdCh63 ME-TRAP) and boosting with Modified Vaccinia Ankara (MVA ME-TRAP). These candidate malaria vaccines will be administered to healthy adult and children volunteers in MRC Laboratories and KEMRI and are planned to start in Q1 2010. Adenovirus vectors are observed to induce strong CD8 T cell and humoral response and particularly AdCh63 evades the risk of neutralisation by antibodies against human adenovirus. The third planned clinical trial is a multicentre phase IIb trial in healthy children and infants of sub-Saharan Africa which aims to assess preliminary efficacy of the candidate vaccine with the proposed prime boost strategy. This clinical trial is planned to start in Q2 2011. In its third work package the MVVC will endeavour to build capacity in the participating institutions with baseline studies on maternal malaria antibodies in infants and seroprevalence of adenovirus before the commencement of the phase IIb clinical trial. Masters, Doctoral and Post Doctoral degree studies are planned for six young scientists based in the African institutions participating in the MVVC. The fourth WP will concentrate on improving networking within the partners of the MVVC and also with already established networks.
The grant agreement for the MVVC was signed with EDCTP December 18th 2009. The MVVC has officially commenced and its kick of meeting was held in Nairobi, Kenya on 1st November 2009. Each partner institution has nominated one representative to seat on the the Project Steering Committee which will oversee the smooth running of the consortium.
CRAfrica
For further information please contact Gabriela Schreyer.