Prefilled syringe with vaccine SPf66

Prefilled syringe in orange bubble packing, containing sample of synthetic peptide vaccine SPf66, developed by Dr. Manuel Elkin Patarroyo and collaborators as a synthetic vaccine for malaria, Bogota, Colombia, used in its first field trial outside Latin America in Tanzania, 1990-95.

Brightly coloured pre-packed syringes were used in field trials of the vaccine SPf66 in Tanzania, Africa, in 1993, the first such trials to take place outside of Latin America. The first anti-malaria vaccine was produced in 1987 by Dr Manuel Patarroyo (b. 1946) and colleagues in Bogotá, Columbia. This is a sample. The bottle of vaccine was used in 1988 during the first Colombian field trials on military volunteers. The vaccine only offers protection from the deadliest strain of malaria, Plasmodium falciparum.

Clinical trials of the vaccine were disappointing as it was found to be only thirty per cent effective against malaria. Despite this SPf66 is still the most effective vaccine developed against the disease. It is shown here with a bottled sample of vaccine SPf66 (1994-445).