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Oxford and Serum Institute Are Building the World's Most Advanced Malaria Vaccine — R78C Is the Next Step Beyond R21, Targeting the Blood Stage of the Parasite

By Mustafa Shariff, Editor in Chief · May 08, 2026 · 5 min read

Mustafa Shariff, Editor in Chief — Oxford and Serum Institute Are Building the World's Most Advanced Malaria Vaccine — R78C Is the Next Step Beyond R21, Targeting the Blood Stage of the Parasite

Summary

Oxford + Serum Institute's R78C Malaria Vaccine Licence: Why This Is the Most Important Vaccine Development Story of 2026
Oxford University and Serum Institute of India have signed a licence agreement for next-generation malaria vaccine candidate R78C. Here is the full science and significance of this deal.

"This agreement marks an important milestone in our efforts to develop a highly effective multi-stage malaria vaccine. By combining multiple antigens that target different stages of the parasite lifecycle, we aim to achieve stronger and longer-lasting protection."

The University of Oxford, through Oxford University Innovation, and the Serum Institute of India have entered into a licence agreement to support the development and manufacture of R78C — a new malaria vaccine candidate that targets the blood stage of the Plasmodium falciparum parasite. The agreement grants SII a non-exclusive worldwide licence to develop R78C as part of a next-generation multi-stage malaria vaccine — a scientific approach designed to attack the malaria parasite at multiple points in its lifecycle simultaneously rather than targeting a single stage.

To understand why this is significant, some malaria vaccine science is necessary. Malaria is caused by the Plasmodium falciparum parasite, which has a complex lifecycle that moves between the mosquito vector and the human host. When an infected mosquito bites a human, it injects sporozoites — pre-erythrocytic stage parasites — into the bloodstream. These travel to the liver, replicate, and then emerge as merozoites that infect red blood cells — the erythrocytic or blood stage. It is this blood-stage infection that causes the symptoms of malaria: fever, anaemia, organ damage, and in severe cases, death.

The R21 Foundation

The Oxford-SII collaboration has already produced R21/Matrix-M — the pre-erythrocytic malaria vaccine that received WHO recommendation in October 2023 and is now supplied by Serum Institute at over 200 million doses per year for delivery in sub-Saharan Africa. R21 targets the circumsporozoite protein on sporozoites — the early stage of the parasite's lifecycle — with a vaccine efficacy of 68-75% across different transmission settings. This is the highest efficacy ever achieved by a malaria vaccine, representing a genuine scientific breakthrough after decades of failed attempts.

The limitation of pre-erythrocytic vaccines is that they can only prevent infection if all sporozoites are neutralised before they reach the liver. If even a small number of sporozoites escape and complete liver-stage development to become blood-stage merozoites, the infection proceeds. A multi-stage vaccine that attacks both the pre-erythrocytic and blood stages creates redundancy — even if some sporozoites escape R21's immune response, the blood-stage component provides a second line of defence.

What R78C Is

R78C is a blood-stage vaccine candidate developed by Professor Simon Draper's laboratory in the Department of Paediatrics at Oxford University. It is based on two Plasmodium falciparum blood-stage antigens — RIPR (Reticulocyte-binding protein Homologue 5, Immunodominant Region) and CyPRA (Cysteine-rich Protective Antigen) — which play specific roles in the parasite's invasion of red blood cells. By targeting these antigens, R78C is designed to induce immune responses that block merozoite invasion of red blood cells, limiting the blood-stage replication that causes malaria's severe symptoms.

R78C builds on earlier work in Draper's laboratory on RH5.1, a previous blood-stage vaccine candidate that showed promising results in Phase 1 and Phase 2a trials, demonstrating for the first time that a blood-stage vaccine could achieve functional immunity in humans. The R78C candidate integrates the scientific lessons from RH5.1 with improved antigen design and the ExpreS2 expression platform, licensed from ExpreS2ion Biosolutions, which enables more efficient production of recombinant proteins.

SII's Manufacturing Role

The licence agreement positions SII to support the continued development, large-scale manufacture, and potential future commercialisation of R78C. SII's role in the R21 programme — manufacturing over 200 million doses annually at under $4 per dose — established that SII can produce complex recombinant protein vaccines at the scale and cost required for global health impact. The same manufacturing capability will be applied to R78C if the candidate advances through clinical development successfully.

Dr Umesh Shaligram, Executive Director of SII, articulated the institutional commitment: malaria prevention continues to demand sustained scientific innovation, and the R78C agreement builds on SII's ongoing collaboration with Oxford to develop next-generation vaccine candidates that can be manufactured at scale and made accessible to populations most in need. Professor Simon Draper's framing of the scientific goal is precise: combining multiple antigens targeting different lifecycle stages aims to achieve stronger and longer-lasting protection than either component alone.

The Global Malaria Context

Malaria remains one of the world's most significant infectious disease killers. The World Health Organization reports hundreds of millions of malaria cases annually, with over 600,000 deaths — predominantly children under five in sub-Saharan Africa. India itself carries a significant malaria burden, particularly in states with high forest cover and vector habitat. The development of more effective malaria vaccines is recognised as one of the highest-impact global health investments available, given the cost-effectiveness of vaccination relative to case treatment and the sustained burden of the disease.

BHC Perspective

At Bengaluru Health Community, the Oxford-SII R78C agreement is a story about the most commercially capable vaccine manufacturer in the world — headquartered in Pune — continuing to place the deepest scientific bets on the vaccines that will most impact global health. For BHC's ecosystem, this collaboration also demonstrates what structured industry-academia partnerships produce when the manufacturing partner (SII), the science institution (Oxford), and the regulatory enabling environment (WHO prequalification for R21) align around a shared global health goal.

Frequently Asked Questions

Q: What is the Oxford-SII R78C agreement?
A: Oxford University Innovation and the Serum Institute of India have signed a licence agreement for R78C, a blood-stage malaria vaccine candidate based on Plasmodium falciparum antigens RIPR and CyPRA — designed as the blood-stage component of a next-generation multi-stage malaria vaccine combining with the existing R21 pre-erythrocytic vaccine.

Q: How does R78C build on R21?
A: R21 targets sporozoites before they reach the liver (pre-erythrocytic stage), with 68-75% efficacy. R78C targets the blood-stage of the parasite, which causes malaria's severe symptoms. Combining both creates a multi-stage attack with the potential for stronger, more durable protection than either component alone.

Q: Why is SII the right manufacturing partner for R78C?
A: SII already manufactures R21/Matrix-M at over 200 million doses per year at under $4 per dose, demonstrating the large-scale, low-cost manufacturing capability required for global health impact. The same infrastructure and expertise applies to R78C as it advances through clinical development.