NIH’s Experimental Antibody Drug Prevents Malaria in Small Study

Dr. Francis Collins, Director of the National Institutes of Health, testifies during the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee hearing in Washington on Sept. 9, 2020. Greg Nash/POOL/AFP via Getty Images

An experimental monoclonal antibody developed at the U.S. National Institutes of Health (NIH) prevented malaria for up to nine months in volunteers exposed to the disease-causing parasite in a small trial, researchers reported on Wednesday in the New England Journal of Medicine.

Malaria is a preventable disease caused by parasites transmitted to people through bites from infected mosquitoes. According to the World Health Organization, malaria caused an estimated 409,000 deaths worldwide in 2019, with 67 percent being children under 5.