[2][3] Sanaria moved into its first facility in Rockville, MD in July 2003 supported by a phase I Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) grant from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and subsequently by a $4.09M grant from the United States Army Medical Research Acquisition Activity Group to further develop its vaccine.
Twenty-two clinical trials of PfSPZ Vaccine(radiation-attenuated SPZ) have been completed or are being conducted in the US, the Netherlands, Germany, Tanzania, Kenya, Mali, Burkina Faso, Gabon, Equatorial Guinea, and Indonesia.
[21] Many of the women participating in the trial became pregnant during follow-up post immunization, and VE during pregnancy against malaria infection was 57% during the two years of follow up.
[26] It builds on earlier experience with Sanaria’s first genetically altered parasite, Sanaria® PfSPZ-GA1, with a single gene deletion, which was developed in collaboration with the Leiden University Medical Center, and assessed in a clinical trial in the Netherlands.
The fully infectious sporozoites of PfSPZ Challenge have enabled research teams worldwide to conduct CHMI studies, including in the US, the Netherlands, Germany, United Kingdom, Spain, Tanzania, Kenya, Mali, Gabon, Equatorial Guinea, and the Gambia.
[30][31] The I-PfSPZ-C meets 1-2 times each year to present data, discuss ideas, and map out plans for future studies in an open forum.
In addition to U.S. NIAID, U.S. DoD, and the BMGF, significant funding for development of PfSPZ vaccines has come from the Government of Equatorial Guinea and the corporate social responsibility arms of three U.S. energy companies (Marathon Oil, Noble Energy and AMPCO), Top Institute Pharma (the Netherlands), universities in Nijmegen and Leiden, the Netherlands, the University of Tübingen, the German Centre for Infection Research (DZIF), the Swiss Tropical Public Health Institute and the Swiss Government, and the Tanzanian Commission on Science and Technology.