Manuel Elkin Patarroyo Murillo was a Colombian immunologist, pathologist and academic who was Professor of Pathology and Immunology. He was behind the world's first attempt to create a synthetic vaccine against the protozoal parasite Plasmodium falciparum, the cause of severe malaria, and which is responsible for the death of ~1.5 million people per year in tropical and subtropical regions, including parts of the Americas, Asia, and Africa.
The vaccine candidate, first developed in 1987 in Colombia, was evaluated in clinical trials carried out by the WHO in Gambia, Tanzania and Thailand, and had mixed results. In 2009, a comprehensive Cochrane review assessed the SPf66 as being not efficacious in Africa and Asia, and as having a low but statistically significant efficacy of 28% in South America. Researchers and vaccine developers have been working on many approaches to bring forward the availability of a malaria vaccine." More research and clinical trials are required for implementing a universal vaccine. Patarroyo was a recipient of the TWAS Prize (1998).