Jerrejef (sp?) Tony, Thank you very much for forwarding the article below. Have a good night or is it morning?!! Cheers, Madiba. On Mon, 6 Dec 1999, Tony Cisse wrote: > Jaajef Madiba and all those interrested ion the subject, > > I have come more details of the Colombian vaccination I mentioned in my last posting on the issue: Manuel Patarroyo, and also a useful discussion list for anyone interested in researching for more information on Malaria (see below). > > Yeenduleen ak jaama > > Tony > ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ > Manuel Patarroyo- Colombia > > Manuel Patarroyo, a Colombian research scientist, has developed the world's first safe and > effective malaria vaccine. The vaccine is the first against a parasite. > > The vaccine has been proven effective between 30 and 60 percent of the time to those over > one year old. At a 30% effectiveness rate, the vaccine could protect 100 million people > from malaria, and could save 1 million lives out of an annual death toll of 3 million. No > vaccine has ever protected that many people. > > Patarroyo claims that his work and the efforts of his Third World colleagues are often > treated with a condescension bordering on racism by northern scientists. He points out that > it took his Bogota laboratory four years to develop the world's first safe and effective > malaria vaccine, but six years to have it recognized. > > There were discussions with a major pharmaceutical company to manufacture the vaccine > in Switzerland, but that would have made the price very high. Patarroyo insisted that the > vaccine be produced in Columbia, in order to keep the price low. If produced in Europe or > the US, the price per dose would have been $10, but by producing the vaccine in Colombia, > it is estimated that it will cost 40 cents per dose. > > Rather than profit from his discovery, Patarroyo turned the patent for his vaccine over to > the World Health Organization (WHO) for free, because he felt that the benefits should go > to mankind, not to large pharmaceutical houses or rich investors. > > ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ > > Scientific American > > Vol. 275, no. 6, December 1996, pages 28-29 > Profile: Manuel Elkin Patarroyo, the man who would conquer > malaria (by Marquerite Holloway) > Patarroyo developed a vaccine for malaria by synthesising peptides > identical to those of the virulent strain of the malaria parasite. This > article reveals something of the man, his research, and the controversy > surrounding his vaccine. > > MANUEL ELKIN PATARROYO > > The Man Who Would > Conquer Malaria > > The turn-of-the-century stone building is rotting inside, floorboards dusty and > dilapidated, pigeons roosting in the eaves. There are no windows in the moldy sills, > and weeds are thriving--even this structure in the middle of Bogotá, Colombia, > suggests the jungle is not so very far away. "This is how my buildings always come," > says Manuel Elkin Patarroyo, proud of the efforts that have transformed other nearby > structures into a charming enclave, complete with gardens, that recall the Pasteur > Institute in Paris--a similarity that delights Patarroyo, because he says that it irritates > his rivals there. > > Once restored, this addition to the Institute of Immunology at the San Juan de Dios > Hospital will permit Patarroyo to expand his research empire and to begin > mass-producing the source of his fame and his controversy: the malaria vaccine > SPf66. But the immunologist does not want to dally in the ruined building and talk > about whether the world is going to want such vast quantities of the compound. The > day is slipping away, it's already 10 o'clock in the morning, and there are labs to dash > through and years of work to review. > > Patarroyo has a talent for transforming more than architecture. In the decade since he > appeared on the international immunology scene, he has ridden innumerable highs > and lows. Currently, in the eyes of many researchers, he is down again--this time for > good. The most recent trial of SPf66 (published in the Lancet in September) failed: > Thai children given several inoculations were no more protected than those given > placebo. This finding follows a 1995 study of young children in the Gambia that also > found the vaccine ineffective. > > But Patarroyo has rebounded before. And anyway, to his mind no such thing as a > down period exists--no matter what the studies find. His spirit is irrepressible, as is > his belief that he does not have to answer his critics, that all will be made clear > eventually. "I don't care. They cannot touch me. It is their problem," he states > emphatically. "My enthusiasm will not leave me for a minute. The opposite! They > don't know what a favor they do me." > > Then he is off again, dashing through another lab and sliding down the length of a hall > to answer a telephone. In rapid succession, he gives a tour of the molecular modeling > room, the place where work on tuberculosis and on leishmaniasis is being conducted, > and the "peptideria," where the synthesized peptides that form the basis of the > malaria vaccine are stored. He also points out myriad other labs and the entrance to > the restricted area where SPf66 is made. "I usually arrive at eight in the morning, and > I leave at 10 P.M., Saturdays included. It is not unusual for me, because it is as I > want it to be," he says, pausing in front of a mural, one of the many works given to > the institute by famous Latin American artists. "If you are doing what you want and > what you like, you do not feel a tension. My wife and my family are used to that." > > A group of his colleagues passes at that moment, and Patarroyo ruffles their hair, > slaps them on the back, teases them. They laugh and joke with him. He explains--still > for a moment against the swirling, colorful backdrop of "A Sense of Immunology," by > Colombian painter Gustavo Zalamea--that he sets up competitions in order to get > work done more quickly. He has promised trips to Cartagena, a beautiful city on the > coast, or seats at one of the Nobel ceremony dinners if his researchers finish projects > ahead of schedule. "But I tell them, 'You son of a gun, if you want to go the Nobel, > you have to buy a tuxedo, because we are not going to be underdeveloped,' " he > laughs. > > Patarroyo refers often to his position as a Third World scientist in the First World > research community. Yet he is in a very privileged situation. In Colombia, Patarroyo > is a national hero; according to a magazine poll, his popularity exceeds that of his > good friend, author Gabriel García Márquez. His funding is guaranteed by the > government, as is his access to a large population of owl monkeys, some of the only > animals that can serve as hosts for the malaria parasites that plague humans. Unlike > many researchers whose finances are linked to their results and to being politic, > Patarroyo really is free to ignore his critics. > > He is not free, however, to ignore the realities of life in Colombia--where numerous > guerrilla groups vie for power, where the drug trade bleeds into every activity and > where the magic realism of García Márquez can seem prosaic. This summer one of > Patarroyo's shipments of white powder--that would be SPf66--was replaced with > vials of a quite different white powder. And a few years ago Patarroyo and his family > encountered guerrillas on a drive home to Bogotá from some pre-Columbian ruins. "I > was captured for five hours because they wanted to talk to me," Patarroyo says, > making light of the experience, his voice perhaps more quiet than he realizes. > > But what makes him most happy about his notoriety, Patarroyo continues quickly, is > that young Colombians are becoming interested in science. Another poll pronounced > that 67 percent of the nation's kids want to be scientists. "What other success could I > claim better than that one? To have brought into this country a consciousness," > Patarroyo exclaims. "So for the children, rather than being Maradonas [the Argentine > soccer great] or rock stars, no! They want to be scientists, and I think that is very > important in our country." > > Patarroyo himself had a very particular vision as a youth, as he tells it: "It was when I > was 11, really, that I liked chemistry so much. And my dream was always to make > chemically synthesized vaccines." His parents were both business people and wanted > their children to be the same; they ended up with five physicians, one nurse and one > child psychologist among their progeny. Although Patarroyo opposed his parents' > business values, he acknowledges that his father gave him a firm sense that whatever > he did, he must be useful to humankind. > > He left his hometown of Ataco, in the Tolima region, to attend medical school in > Bogotá. He says that he was a mediocre medical student and that it was not until his > internship at San Juan de Dios that he understood what science was about. "It was > so beautiful to me to save lives," he muses. "I wanted to make vaccines because I > wanted to be useful." > > In the late 1960s Patarroyo went abroad--something he encourages his researchers > to do. After a short stint in virology at Yale University in 1968, Patarroyo worked in > immunology at the Rockefeller University for several years. He then returned to > Colombia, where he studied various infectious diseases until a colleague urged him to > change his focus. "He said I was an idiot, that I was working on a problem that was > not as important as malaria. Then he gave me the statistics," Patarroyo recounts as he > drives carefully but quickly through the Bogotá traffic to a traditional Colombian > restaurant. Every year as many as 500 million people contract malaria; between 1.5 > and three million of them, mostly children, die. Treatment of the disease is tricky, > because strains of the parasite in many regions have become resistant to the principal > drug, chloroquine, and the alternative, Lariam, increasingly appears to be highly toxic. > > Patarroyo's approach to developing a malaria vaccine was unusual. Instead of > creating it from dead or weakened strains of the malaria parasite, he synthesized > peptides identical to those used by the most virulent strain, Plasmodium falciparum. > At the time of Patarroyo's initial experiments, few immunologists thought > manufactured peptides could produce a strong immune response. Patarroyo > nonetheless tested various peptides for their ability to produce antibodies in monkeys > and settled on four: one used by the parasite during its larval stage and three used by > the mature parasite to bind to and infect red blood cells. In 1987 he reported that > vaccination protected 50 percent of the monkeys. Controversy subsequently flared > up when investigators could not replicate the results; Patarroyo claims they used a > different compound. > > Pausing in the middle of his lunch, Patarroyo starts to sketch a timeline on a yellow > pad, marking the dates of his papers. Right after his first success, he fell into his first > quagmire. "I made a mistake because of my ignorance in epidemiology," he explains. > He decided to vaccinate Colombians but did not set up a double-blind study. He > was roasted by the scientific community for his methodology and for the ethics of > moving so quickly to human trials. > > As other results were reported over the years--the vaccine was consistently safe but > proved inconsistently protective--the community continued to divide. "He has always > been a very intense personality, provoking strong emotions," notes Hans Wigzell, > head of the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm. "I have been very impressed by his > capacity to press on. His science is like brute force." Wigzell cautions that even early > on Patarroyo "had the feeling that people didn't understand him. So this is not > something that has just popped up. Personally, I like him." > > Even though most studies found the vaccine benefited only about 30 to 40 percent of > patients, many in public health were delighted: 30 percent of 500 million is still a great > deal. SPf66 was held to a different standard than other vaccines because of the > peculiarities of malaria: even people who have developed natural immunity to the > parasite often lose it. As major trials in Colombia and then in Tanzania bolstered the > 30 percent or so figure, it seemed as though Patarroyo was vindicated. In 1995 he > donated the rights to the vaccine to the World Health Organization. > > Then came the Gambia and Thailand. Although some immunologists maintain they are > not ready to give up on SPf66, they are frustrated by the variability of the results. > "There has got to be some way of evaluating why it is or it is not working," comments > Louis Miller of the U.S. National Institutes of Health. > > Patarroyo notes that there may be reasons for the inconsistencies: very young > children's immune systems, such as those of the six- to 11-month-olds inoculated in > the Gambia, are different from those of adults; the vaccine used in Thailand may not > have been identical to SPf66; genetic variability determines immune responses. But, > he adds, he is uninterested in point-counterpoint. He just wants to keep going, > studying ways of improving the vaccine and of developing others. That is the credo of > the institute, he insists: "It is the search for the essence of things. It is not that we are > going to develop a malaria vaccine.. It is that we want to develop a methodology. > Really to make vaccines." Then Patarroyo hints that his new research will illuminate > why SPf66 seems so mercurial. > > Whatever he may have in the wings, SPf66 remains the only malaria vaccine in trials, > and his work, confounding and controversial, has enlivened the field. As for > Patarroyo, he seems thrilled as always to be a scientist, thrilled to be directing his > laboratory and thrilled to be free to think and transform. "We are really privileged, > scientists," he says, skipping up the stairs to his office a little more slowly than usual > because of lunch. "We get to have intellectual development! How many get to have > that? Most people have to do things they don't like." > > --Marguerite Holloway > > > ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ > > Malaria discussion mail server > > I have established a malaria discussion mailing list over the Internet. This will provide a forum for > anyone wishing to ask, preach or communicate on the general subject of malaria. At last count there > were about 828 recipients, many of which I had unilaterally joined up myself, and several interesting > discussions have been held. I would like to join up more people if I can get their e-mail addresses. It > is run on a listserver at The Walter and Eliza Hall Institute of Medical Research and can be accessed > by anyone with an e-mail address. To join, you send a subscription message which places your name > on a list of mail recipients. If you later send a mail message to the discussion group, it will > automatically be sent to all the people who have subscribed. As more people subscribe your > message will reach a wider audience, increasing your chances of spreading your message or getting > your questions answered. > > Subscribing to the malaria discussion group. > > Send an e-mail to [log in to unmask] . In the body of the mail message, you need only type the > single line. > > subscribe malaria (preferred personal name) > > You could optionally put your e-mail address after the word malaria otherwise the list will use the > e-mail address attached to your message. > > Stopping your subscription to the discussion group. > > If you decide you no longer want to receive malaria messages, send an e-mail to > [log in to unmask] In the body of the mail message, you need only type the single line. > > unsubscribe malaria > > ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- > > To unsubscribe/subscribe or view archives of postings, go to the Gambia-L > Web interface at: http://maelstrom.stjohns.edu/archives/gambia-l.html > > ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- > ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- To unsubscribe/subscribe or view archives of postings, go to the Gambia-L Web interface at: http://maelstrom.stjohns.edu/archives/gambia-l.html ----------------------------------------------------------------------------