A China-developed malaria vaccine will soon undergo clinical trials in Shanghai -- a move China hopes it will contribute to global prevention efforts of the deadly disease.

Seventy healthy adult volunteers will receive the vaccine, code-named PfCP2.9, at the Changhai Hospital in Shanghai. If the eight-month trail is successful, full clinical trials will be conducted on adults and children in areas where malaria is most prevalent, a source close to the program said on Wednesday.

The trails will be funded by the worldwide non-profit fund PATH, and its Malaria Vaccine Initiative. Shanghai-based Wanxing Biological Pharmacy Co., Ltd., is also engaged in the research and development of the vaccine. The two organizations signed an agreement to carry out the clinical trails in Shanghai on Wednesday.

The trails will receive US$2 million from PATH which will also provide technical support and data analysis.

The PfCP2.9 malaria vaccine, developed by medical experts with the Shanghai No. 2 Medical College of the Chinese People's Liberation Army (PLA), is one of 20 new malaria vaccines around the world which have received funding from PATH for clinical trials. A hundred vaccine development teams had applied for funding.

PATH is working with the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation on the worldwide campaign to fund a low cost and effective malaria vaccine.

One-third of the world population is threatened by malaria. In Africa alone, more than a million children under the age of five die of malaria every year.

In China, most malaria victims come from the southern provinces of Yunnan and Hainan.

Clinical test of the PfCP2.9 malaria vaccine has also been approved by China's State Food and Drug Administration.

(Xinhua News Agency March 16, 2006)