AMANET is pleased to announce awarding of capacity strengthening and site development grants as well as clinical trials grants for 2005. This follows the call for applications which was sent out in March 2004 and a rigorous selection process.

During the fifth meeting of the AMANET Board of Trustees, held on 25 November 2004 in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, grants were awarded to CNRFP, TDRC Ndola, NIMR Amani. €200,000 was awarded to CNRFP Burkina Faso, a centre that remains as a shining example of the achievements of AMANET capacity strengthening grants. The grant is for site maintenance that will enable the centre to continue with its capacity strengthening programme in preparation for further vaccine trials.

Tropical Disease Research Center (TDRC) Ndola in Zambia and National Institute for Medical Research (NIMR), Amani, Tanzania have each been granted €250,000. These grants are for institutional capacity strengthening including site characterization and will last for two years.

AMANET is also pleased to announce the plans to undertake a phase 1b trial of the Apical Membrane Antigen (AMA 1). This follows successful application from the developer through the European Malaria Vaccine Initiative (EMVI). The selected trial site is the Malaria Research and Training Centre (MRTC), University of Bamako, Mali. The phase 1b trial is expected to start in October 2005.

Other planned trials for the 2005 include GMZ-2, a hybrid molecule of recombinant Merozoite Surface Protein (MSP3) and Glutamate Rich Protein (GLURP) Further development of MSP3 vaccine will depend on the outcome of the phase 1b trial which has just been completed under AMANET funding at CNRFP, Burkina Faso.