Tag Archives: Dr Ripley Ballou

Malaria vaccine gets ‘green light’ – BBC News

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-33641939

The world’s first malaria vaccine has cleared one of the final hurdles prior to being approved for use in Africa.

The European Medicines Agency gave a positive scientific opinion after assessing its safety and effectiveness.

It represents a ‘green light’ for the Mosquirix jab, developed by GlaxoSmithKline.

The World Health Organization will consider later this year whether to recommend it for children, among whom trials have yielded mixed results.

Malaria kills around 584,000 people a year worldwide, most of them children under five in sub-Saharan Africa.
‘Dream come true’

Mosquirix, otherwise known as the RTS,S vaccine, is the first against a parasitic infection in humans.

Dr Ripley Ballou, head of research at GSK vaccines, said: “This is a hugely significant moment. I’ve been working on this vaccine for 30 years and this is a dream come true.”

Note: It will be interesting to watch the narrative on this “Malaria vaccine” as malaria is a parasite not a virus.

GSK Ebola specialist was a ‘novice’ until last year

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sponsored/education/stem-awards/pharmaceuticals/11436899/gsk-ebola-specialist-ripley-ballou.html
Infectious diseases specialist Dr Ripley Ballou is working on GSK’s Ebola vaccine

Prior to last year, infectious diseases specialist Dr Ripley Ballou knew very little about Ebola. “I was a novice – I’d never seen an Ebola patient or touched an Ebola vaccine before last summer,” he says.

He is better known for helping to discover the world’s first vaccine against malaria. Now head of clinical research and translational science in the vaccines division at GSK, he has devoted some 30 years to discovering the vaccine, which is going through regulatory approval and should be launched next year.