Winner. Scientist of the Year 2021

Halidou Tinto

Academic title, degree: Professor, Ph.D., PharmD
Fields of science: Malaria, Epidemiology, Clinical Trials, Ethics/Regulatory Affairs, Capacity Building
Research interest: Drugs & vaccines clinical trials
Institution: Institute for Health Sciences Research (IRSS) in Nanoro
Position: Regional Director
Country: Burkina Faso

Professor Halidou Tinto is pharmacist by background and holder of a Post-graduate diploma in Sciences (Biochemistry and Applied Microbiology) obtained in 1998 at the University of Ouagadougou (Burkina Faso), and a PhD in Medical Science (Parasitology) obtained in 2006 at the University of Antwerp (Belgium).

Professor Tinto has been involved in several epidemiological studies for about 23 years (since 1998) in Africa. During PhD work (2002 – 2006), Halidou Tinto focused his research activity on the epidemiology of malaria drug resistance in Burkina Faso and Rwanda. One of the key achievements obtained from this work was the contribution of data to the change of the malaria treatment policy in the two countries with the introduction of Artemisinin based combination therapies for the treatment of uncomplicated malaria.

His interest for clinical trials was born from the efficacy studies Prof. Tinto conducted to assess the effectiveness of antimalarial drugs in the framework of the epidemiological surveillance of the malaria drugs resistance. However, he found out that there were few places in sub-Saharan Africa with the necessary infrastructure and expertise to conduct clinical trials in accordance with the international standards requirements. This recognition led him after his PhD to create the Clinical Research Unit of Nanoro (CRUN) in 2009 in Burkina Faso. This unit provides today a well-equipped GCP-compliant clinical research platform for testing new interventions and employ over 300 staff working on various research projects.

Within the last 15 years, Professor Halidou Tinto conducted (as PI or co-PI) in collaboration with academic institutions and pharmaceuticals companies (GSK, Sanofi, Novartis, Sigma Tau, Shin poon Pharmaceuticals, etc.) several phase 2, 3 and 4 clinical trials at ICH/GCP standards including the GSK phase 3 malaria vaccine trial (RTS,S) and more recently the Oxford University R21 malaria vaccine candidate that has shown an incredible (never reported before) high protective efficacy of 77% over one year. At academic level, Dr. Tinto has been appointed from 2016 as Professor in Parasitology associated to the Faculty of Medicine of the Nazi Boni University of Bobo-Dioulasso in Burkina Faso where he teaches the clinical trials module in the Parasitology Master Program.

Apart from his contribution to research and training, Professor Halidou Tinto also acted as Co-Chair (2013) and Chair (2014) of the Clinical Trial Partnership Committee for the GSK RTS,S malaria vaccine trial consortium, and from 2015 to 2020 as International Coordinator for Sanofi. He is currently a member of several expert working groups including: (1) Member of the WHO Regional expert Advisory Committee on Traditional Medicine for Covid-19; (2) Member of the Scientific Advisory Board for the MMV/LSTM joint Antimalarial Pregnancy Registry; (3) Expert for Sub-Saharan Africa of the European Union Malaria Fund; (4) Member of the WHO Malaria Vaccines Advisory Committee;(5) Member of the WWARN Scientific Advisory Committee; (6) Member of the Scientific Advisory Committee.

Recent Achievements of Professor Halidou Tinto include:

• Participation to test the GSK RTS,S malaria vaccine candidate in phase 3 that resulted in the pilot implementation of this vaccine in 3 African countries followed by the recommendation made by the WHO for a widespread use of the vaccine among children in sub-Saharan Africa;

• Role as Principal Investigator to test the Oxford University R21/Matrix malaria vaccine candidate in phase 2 which resulted in an incredible breakthrough in the fight against malaria as the trial conducted by my team demonstrated that the vaccine exhibited high-level efficacy of 77% during a 12-month follow-up period, becoming the first malaria vaccine ever to achieve the WHO’s 75% efficacy goal;

• Contribution to several phase 2 and 3 malaria drugs trials that resulted in the registration and marketing for some of them including Dihydroartemisine-Piperaquine (Eurartesim), and Pyronaridine-Artesunate (Pyramax);

• Contribution to capacity building in Africa through the training of the next generation of African scientists by promoting/co-promoting over 20 Msc/MD students from various parts of Africa and over 20 PhD students (since the creation of my research unit in 2009) of whom 10 PhDs have completed their training and are all back in Burkina Faso to contribute to the sustainability of the medical research in Africa.

Overall, his research work contributed to support the effort of rolling back the most killing disease (malaria) in Africa.