Pharmaceutical Science and the Malaria Vaccine Breakthrough

Key Concepts in Pharmacology

A drug is a chemical substance, the active ingredient or a set of them, as part of a pharmaceutical form designed for use in humans or animals. It is endowed with properties to prevent, diagnose, treat, alleviate, or cure diseases, symptoms, or disease states.

The active ingredient is the component responsible for drug activity. It reaches the target site—i.e., where it performs its function. The same drug may contain one or more active ingredients.

A carrier is the substance added to active substances or their associations to serve as a vehicle. It enables preparation and stability, modifies organoleptic properties, or determines the chemical properties of the drug and its bioavailability.

Generics are drugs sold under the name of the active ingredient incorporated. They maintain equality of dose, dosage form, efficacy, safety, quality, and bioequivalence as the original product.

Patents and Global Health Innovation

A patent is a set of exclusive rights granted by a State to an inventor or his assignee for a limited period of time in exchange for the disclosure of his invention. Patents are not granted for an indefinite period; they expire after a specified timeframe, which is usually twenty years.

Manuel Elkin Patarroyo and the Malaria Vaccine

Manuel Elkin Patarroyo (Colombia, 1946) is an immunologist with a PhD from Rockefeller University in New York. He is responsible for developing a synthetic vaccine against malaria. This vaccine has already been tested in areas that suffer from this disease as an epidemic, including Colombia, Venezuela, Ecuador, Brazil, and more recently in several African countries. The patent was donated to the WHO in 1993, and he has improved the vaccine in recent years for this disease that kills three million people every year.

In addition, Patarroyo intends to create a consortium of "friends" to distribute the new drug for free when it is ready for use, probably in about five years. This initiative aims to reach the largest possible number of people at risk of malaria, which scientists estimate to be some 2,700 million people. He collaborates with the World Health Organization for the development of synthetic vaccines against malaria, tuberculosis, and leprosy.