Safety and Immunogenicity of SUM-101 Malaria Vaccine in Children and Infants Living in Burkina Faso (SUM-101)

A Phase 1b, Randomised, Controlled Age De-escalation, Dose-finding Study to Evaluate the Safety, Reactogenicity and Immunogenicity of Full-length MSP1/GLA-SE (SUM-101) Malaria Vaccine in Healthy Young Children, and Infants in Burkina Faso.

This clinical trial aims to learn about the safety and immunogenicity of the blood-stage malaria vaccine candidate SUM-101 in infants and children, paving the way for its incorporation into a multi-stage malaria vaccine. This will be the first time SUM-101 will be evaluated for safety and immunogenicity in infants and children. The main questions it aims to answer are:

• Are the 3 doses of full-length MSP1/GLA-SE (SUM-101) in young children and infants safe?
• Do the 3 doses of full-length MSP1/GLA-SE (SUM-101) in young children and infants produce any reactogenicity?
• How is the immunogenicity in young children and infants generated by the 3 doses of full-length MSP1/GLA-SE (SUM-101)?
• What is the optimal dose of the full-length MSP1/GLA-SE (SUM-101) in young children and infants? The study will be divided into two arms with 5 groups conducted at a single centre. In total, 39 healthy malaria-pre-exposed infants and children aged 5 months to 5 years will be enrolled in this study.

Participants will be included in one of the following groups:

• Arm 1_Group 1 (open-label design): This will be the first cohort enrolled to assess safety in children (18 months - 5 years) before the vaccination of infants commences. Therefore, all participants in Arm 1 will receive one dose of SUM-101 vaccine (25µg MSP1 + 2µg GLA-SE) on D0, D28 and D56.
• Arm 2_Group 2-3 (randomised, controlled, double-blind design): This will be the second cohort enrolled to assess safety in the target population (infants aged 5-17 months). Infants will be assigned to Groups 2-3 to enable evaluation of one dose of MSP1 (10µg) and two doses of GLA-SE (2µg and 1µg). The infants in each group will be randomised into A) a vaccine arm (12 participants) and B) a control arm (3 participants). All participants in Groups 2-3 will receive one doses of SUM-101 vaccine or Verorab® (Rabies vaccine) on D0, D28 and D56.

Participants will visit the clinic for screening and once selected for enrolment. No later than 28 days after selection participants will receive the 1st vaccination (Visit Day 0) and 2nd and 3rd Vaccination on Day 28 and Day 56. On Day 1 to 6 days post each vaccination (Day 1-6, Day 29-34 and Day 57-62) each participant will be visited at home daily by a field worker for assessment and recording of any solicited and unsolicited AEs (Reactogenicity visits).

Study Overview

• Status: Completed
• Conditions: Malaria,Falciparum
• Intervention / Treatment: Biological: SUM-101

Detailed Description

Experimental design: Phase Ib, age de-escalation and dose-escalation study. A total of 39 participants will be enrolled, consisting of healthy children (18 months-5 years) and infants (5-17 months) residing in Sabou health district or in Banfora health district, Burkina Faso. The participants will be divided into three groups. Two doses of MSP1 (25μg and 10μg) and two doses of GLA-SE (2μg and 1μg) will be evaluated.

Group 1 will be the first cohort enrolled to assess safety in children before the vaccination of infants commences. There will be no control arm, therefore, all participants in Group 1 will receive three doses of SUM-101 vaccine on D0, D28 and D56 in an open-label design.

Groups 2 and 3 will consist of the target population (infants aged 5-17 months) who will be randomised into A) a vaccine arm (12 participants) and B) a control arm (3 participants). Vaccination of Groups 2 and 3 will be conducted in a double-blinded manner. All participants in Groups 2 and 3 will receive three doses of either SUM-101 vaccine or Verorab® (rabies vaccine) on D0, D28 and D56.

Because this is the first time SUM-101 is administered to children and infants, the vaccinations will be staggered with regular safety reviews. A dose of 25μg MSP1+2μg GLA-SE will be used in children in Group 1. This choice is based on the good safety and tolerability data obtained in malaria naïve adults in Germany using this dose. Subject to favourable safety data from children, a lower dose of 10μg MSP1 with 1μg or 2μg of GLA-SE will be used in infants in Groups 2A and 3A. As an additional safety measure, the first 3 participants enrolled in Group 1 will be sentinels who will be vaccinated in an open-label manner. To ensure blinding, the first 4 participants enrolled in Groups 2 and 3 will be sentinels who will be vaccinated with either SUM-101 or control vaccine. The sentinel participants will be vaccinated one at a time (not at the same time) at least 72 hours before the remaining participants are vaccinated.

For the children cohort, the trial will be an open-label uncontrolled trial (with no control group), as the cohort of children will be used as a transition group between adults and infants. Tolerance and safety in adults have already been demonstrated in previous trials in Germany and Tanzania. The safety of the lowest dose used in adults will be evaluated in children in an open-label manner (without a control group, in a staggered fashion with a sentinel approach and a review of the data by the Data Safety Monitoring Board -DSMB-) to ensure a safe transition to the target group of the study, the infant population, where the vaccine will also be administered in a staggered fashion with a sentinel approach. Adjuvant doses are informed by safety and immunogenicity data from previous SUM-101 clinical trials and as recommended by the adjuvant manufacturer and another clinical trial (NCT04607408).

The principal investigator (PI) will review the safety data of the sentinel participants and decide whether to proceed with the vaccination of the other participants according to pre-defined safety criteria. In case of any product-related safety concerns, the decision will be made by the DSMB. The DSMB will review safety data and decide whether to transition from vaccination of children (Group 1) to infants (Group 2 and 3). Additional DSMB meetings will be scheduled at the end of the follow up period.

The duration of involvement in the study from enrolment will be approximately 24 weeks. The screening period will be approximately 4 weeks. The vaccination phase of the study takes 8 weeks for each participant, and the post-vaccination follow-up lasts for up to 12 weeks after the third vaccination.

• Study Type: Interventional
• Enrollment (Actual): 39
• Phase: Phase 1

Contacts and Locations

Study Locations

• Burkina Faso
  • Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso, 06 BP 10248
    • Groupe de Recherche Action en Santé (GRAS)

Participation Criteria

Eligibility Criteria

• Ages Eligible for Study: Child
• Accepts Healthy Volunteers: Yes

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

• Resident in the study area villages and participant's parent(s)/legal guardian anticipate being available for vaccination and follow-up for following last dose of vaccination.
• Z-score of weight-for-age within ±2SD.

Exclusion Criteria:

• Clinically significant skin disorder (psoriasis, contact dermatitis etc.), immunodeficiency, cardiovascular disease, respiratory disease, endocrine disorder, liver disease, renal disease, gastrointestinal disease, neurological illness, major congenital defects, malnutrition requiring hospital admission and anaemia.
• History of allergic reaction, significant IgE-mediated event, or anaphylaxis to immunisation.
• Clinically significant laboratory abnormality as judged by the study investigator.
• History of blood transfusion.
• Administration of immunoglobulins and/or any blood products within the three months preceding the planned administration of the vaccine candidate.
• Previous vaccination with experimental malaria vaccines.
• Participation in another research study/clinical trial involving receipt of an investigational medicinal product or planned use during the study period.
• Any confirmed or suspected immunosuppressive or immunodeficient state, including HIV infection (no HIV testing); asplenia; recurrent, severe infections and chronic immunosuppressant medication (For corticosteroids, this will mean prednisone, or equivalent, 0.5 mg/kg/day. Inhaled and topical steroids are allowed).
• Any significant disease, disorder or situation which, in the opinion of the Investigator, may either put the participants at risk because of participation in the trial, or may influence the result of the trial, or the participant´s ability to participate in the trial.

Study Plan

How is the study designed?

Design Details

• Primary Purpose: Prevention
• Allocation: Randomized
• Interventional Model: Sequential Assignment
• Masking: Quadruple

Number of Arms

2

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm	Intervention / Treatment
Experimental: Children (18 months - 5 years); Children (18 months - 5 years) will not be randomised. The first 3 participants will be enrolled as sentinel participants prior to the 6 follower participants. The nine participants of Group 1 will receive three administrations of the SUM-101 vaccine (25µg MSP1 + 5µg GLA-SE) in an open-label design.	Biological: SUM-101; Three immunizations every 4 weeks for 3 months (total 3 immunizations)
Experimental: Infants (5-17 months); For safety reasons, vaccination of infants will be staggered based on the dosage of MSP1 and the GLA-SE adjuvant used. The following dosages will be evaluated: Group 2: 10µg MSP1 + 2.5µg GLA-SE; Group 3: 10µg MSP1 + 5µg GLA-SE; Group 4: 25µg MSP1 + 2.5µg GLA-SE; Group 5: 25µg MSP1 + 5µg GLA-SE Enrollment and vaccination of infants will start with Groups 2 and 3, and only proceed to Groups 4 and 5 if there are no safety concerns. The first infants enrolled into each group will be sentinels (4 per group). The At least tThree out four sentinels will receive the SUM-101 vaccine dose assigned to their respective groups. The participants enrolled into Groups 2-5 (both sentinels and followers) will be randomised at a ratio of 4:1 into vaccine and control arms. In total, 12 participants per group will receive the SUM-101 vaccine (either 25µg or 10µg of MSP1 and either 5µg or 2.5µg of GLA-SE) and 3 participants will receive the control vaccine (rabies vaccine, Verorab®).	Biological: SUM-101; Three immunizations every 4 weeks for 3 months (total 3 immunizations)

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Local and systemic solicited adverse events (AEs) at least possibly related to the SUM-101.	Local and systemic solicited adverse events (AEs) at least possibly related to the investigational medicinal product (IMP) SUM-101 will be recorded to evaluate safety and reactogenicity.	After each vaccination (done on Day0, Day28 and Day56) up to 7 days after.
Local and systemic unsolicited reactogenicity adverse events (AEs).	Local and systemic unsolicited reactogenicity will be recorded to evaluate the safety and reactogenicity of SUM-101.	Recorder after each vaccination (done on Day0, Day28 and Day56) up to 28 days later.
Number of participants with treatment-related adverse events as assessed by safety laboratory measures of haematology and biochemistry.	Changes in laboratory safety parameters as summarised as absolute values of: Haematology (RBC count, WBC count with differentials (neutrophil, lymphocyte and eosinophil), Haemoglobin (Hgb), Haematocrit and platelet count. Biochemistry-, Serum creatinine, Alanine aminotransferase (ALT), Aspartate Aminotransferase (AST) and Total bilirubin.	Between baseline (Day 0 before 1st vaccination) to 28 days after each vaccination.
Any serious adverse events (SAE) occurring during the whole study duration.	Any serious adverse events (SAE) occurring after signature of the informed consent until the participant's last visit to evaluate the safety and reactogenicity of SUM-101.	Recorded after signature of informed consent until the participant's last visit (Day 140)

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
IgG antibody titres against full-length MSP1	IgG antibody titters against the full-length MSP1 will be measured by ELISA.	Changes assessed between Day 0 (pre-vaccination) up to Day 140 (last follow up visit).
Identification of the dose of full-length MSP1/GLA-SE (SUM-101) in young children and infants that give the safety profile.	Comparison of local and systemic solicited adverse events (AEs) at least possibly related to the investigational medicinal product (IMP) SUM-101 will be recorded to evaluate safety and reactogenicity across different doses of full-length MSP1 and GLA-SE in infants and young children .	Recorded from after 1st vaccination (Day 0 post-vaccination) until the participant's last visit (Day 140)
Identification of the dose of full-length MSP1/GLA-SE (SUM-101) in young children and infants that give the strongest immune response.	Comparison of IgG antibody titters against the full-length MSP1 will be measured by ELISA across different doses of full-length MSP1 and GLA-SE in infants and young children.	Recorded from after 1st vaccination (Day 0 post-vaccination) until the participant's last visit (Day 140)

Other Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Evaluation of antibody-mediated complement fixation activity.	In vitro immunological assay to evaluate immune responses by assessing complement fixation.	Changes assessed between Day 0 (pre-vaccination) up to Day 140 (last follow up visit).
Evaluation of antibody-dependent respiratory burst (ADRB) activity of vaccine-induced antibodies.	In vitro lab immunological assay to evaluate immune responses by assessing antibody-dependent respiratory burst (ADRB) activity measured in the sera or blood of all participants.	Changes assessed between Day 0 (pre-vaccination) up to Day 140 (last follow up visit).
Age dependency of IgG and IgM antibody titers against full-length MSP1 in comparison to Tanzanian and German adults who previously received SUM-101 vaccine.	IgG antibody titters against the full-length MSP1 will be measured by ELISA.	Changes assessed between Day 0 (pre-vaccination) up to Day 140 (last follow up visit).
Evaluation of immune-mediated growth inhibition activity on a panel of genetically diverse P. falciparum lines in vitro.	In vitro functional assay to evaluate immune-mediated growth inhibition activity on a panel of Plasmodium falciparum asexual blood stage cell lines measured in the sera or blood of all participants.	Changes assessed between Day 0 (pre-vaccination) up to Day 140 (last follow up visit).
Evaluation of the opsonic phagocytosis activity of vaccine induced IgG.	In vitro immunological assay to evaluate immune responses by measuring opsonic phagocytosis activity in the sera or blood of all participants.	Changes assessed between Day 0 (pre-vaccination) up to Day 140 (last follow up visit).
Evaluation of antibody-dependent cellular cytotoxicity (ADCC-NK cells) activity.	In vitro immunological assay to evaluate immune responses by assessing antibody-dependent cellular cytotoxicity (ADCC-NK cells) activity in the sera or blood of all participants.	Changes assessed between Day 0 (pre-vaccination) up to Day 140 (last follow up visit).
Evaluation of Cytomegalovirus (CMV) seropositivity.	In vitro immunological assay to measure CMV seropositivity in comparison with IgG antibody titters against the full-length MSP1 (measured in outcome 5).	Changes assessed between Day 0 (pre-vaccination) up to Day 140 (last follow up visit).
Fine-scale resolution of allele-specific antibody responses against full-length MSP1.	PepSeq immunology assay to assess allele-specific antibody responses against SUM-101.	Changes assessed between Day 0 (pre-vaccination) up to Day 140 (last follow up visit).

Collaborators and Investigators

• Sponsor: European Vaccine Initiative
• Collaborators: Luxembourg Institute of Health; Groupe de Recherche Action en Sante
• Investigators: Principal Investigator: Sodiomon Sirima, MD, Groupe de Recherche Action en Sante

Study record dates

Study Major Dates

• Study Start (Actual): August 1, 2025
• Primary Completion (Actual): January 31, 2026
• Study Completion (Actual): April 25, 2026

Study Registration Dates

• First Submitted: September 23, 2024
• First Submitted That Met QC Criteria: September 25, 2024
• First Posted (Actual): October 1, 2024

Study Record Updates

• Last Update Posted (Actual): September 11, 2026
• Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria: September 9, 2026
• Last Verified: September 1, 2026

More Information

Terms related to this study

• Additional Relevant MeSH Terms: Vector Borne Diseases; Mosquito-Borne Diseases; Infections; Protozoan Infections; Parasitic Diseases; Malaria; Malaria, Falciparum
• Other Study ID Numbers: EVI-CT-001

Plan for Individual participant data (IPD)

• Plan to Share Individual Participant Data (IPD)?: NO

Drug and device information, study documents

• Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated drug product: No
• Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated device product: No
• product manufactured in and exported from the U.S.: No