Manuel Elkin Patarroyo

Manuel Elkin Patarroyo Murillo (Ataco, Tolima, November 3, 1946) is a Colombian immunologist. His malaria vaccine, SPf66, developed in 1987, failed to reduce the disease in different locations in Latin America and Africa, resulting in the termination of further development.

Early years and studies

He was born in the municipality of Ataco on November 3, 1946 in the department of Tolima in Colombia along with 10 siblings. He completed his high school studies at the José Max León school in Bogotá, Colombia. He entered the Faculty of Medicine of the National University of Colombia where he obtained his degree in 1971. He later completed a fellowship in Immunology at Yale University. He also did postdoctoral studies at the Karolinska Institutet in Stockholm.

Synthetic malaria vaccine is effective

Between 1986 and 1988, the SPf66 vaccine against malaria was created by Manuel Elkin Patarroyo and tested in a colony of monkeys from the Amazon region, the Aotus trivirgatus, and in a group of young volunteer high school graduates who were doing their military service. The World Health Organization (WHO) classifies it as inactive after subsequent clinical evaluations.

Primate experimentation and controversy

A fundamental support for research has been the Aotus monkeys that inhabit a large part of the Amazon basin. The Colombian Institute of Immunology Foundation (Fidic), created under the leadership of Patarroyo and a team of scientists and researchers, has its primate station in the Colombian town of Leticia, where it conducts its research.

The Corporation for the Sustainable Development of the Southern Amazon (Corpoamazonía) opened an investigation to verify if the complaints against FIDIC (Fundación Instituto de Immunología de Colombia) were true for having indirectly allowed the trafficking of monkeys. The Ministry of the Environment, Housing and Territorial Development of Colombia carried out an investigation motivated by the denunciations of Corpoamazonía, in which it was evident that within the FIDIC facilities they found monkeys of the species Aotus nancymaae, which they had only been registered from the border territories of Brazil and Peru and not in Colombian territory. In 2008, the Ministry closed the investigations into the alleged illegal trade in this animal species against the FIDIC.

However, in July 2012, a court in Cundinamarca ordered Patarroyo to stop capturing more animals, a decision that was temporarily ratified by the Colombian Council of State in November 2013. The complaints and legal actions against Patarroyo and Fidic began in 2012 when Ángela Maldonado, a business administrator with a master's and doctorate in primate conservation, sued the (Fidic) and Patarroyo because, according to her, they were using not only monkeys in their research Aotus vociferans, but also Aotus nancymaae, which according to her were smuggled in from Peru and Brazil on the other side of the Amazon. In 2014, European academics issued a statement criticizing Fidic's use of unauthorized monkeys and supporting the Council of State's decision to revoke the permits that allowed them to use primates in their experiments. Faced with these reckless actions, bad press and unclear judicial actions, Patarroyo and his team filed various actions to demonstrate in the judicial and administrative courts of the Colombian state that they have not been monkey traffickers, that they do not promote animal abuse and that they have carried out all their experiments in compliance with the Law and international parameters.

Through a guardianship, in 2015 the State Council itself again authorized Patarroyo and Fidic to use the primates Aotus Vociferans and Nancymae for their scientific research. According to Semana magazine, "with a presentation by magistrate Carmen Teresa Ortiz, it became clear that according to numerous studies, especially a very extensive one published in 2013 by the Institute of Genetics of the National University in the Amazon, the monkeys Aotus nancymaae have lived in Colombia for many centuries, precisely in the same areas where the Fidic has permission to capture them"[2], which disproved the complaints against Fidic and Patarroyo. In addition, the Council of State determined that their fundamental rights to due process and investigation had been violated, because experimentation on animals continues to this day.

A part of the investigations carried out by Fidic and Patarroyo have been financed with international cooperation resources, their own work in the training of professionals and with state resources from Colciencias. Official figures show that Patarroyo and the Fidic have received 21,750 million pesos during 25 years of research and teacher training.

Awards

The results of the work carried out at the Institute of Immunology, today FIDIC (Fundación Instituto de Immunología de Colombia), have earned Patarroyo and his team various national and foreign recognitions:

• Prince of Viana Solidarity Award 2011.
• 2010 HazTUacción Award awarded by Fundación AISGE (Spain).
• International Prize for Convivencia Ciudad Autónoma de Ceuta in Spain for its "internationalization of aid" in 2009.
• The Latin American International Prize in Neumology Fernando D. Gómez, awarded by the Latin American Union of Physiology Societies and the National Academy of Medicine of Uruguay (1990).
• The Léon Bernard Foundation Award awarded by the World Health Organization (WHO) in 1995.
• Robert Koch Medaille Prize, 1994.
• Edinburgh Medal.
• Prince of Asturias Prize for Scientific and Technical Research, 1994. He was chosen as the winner of the Spanish Prince of Asturias Prize for Scientific and Technical Research for his creation of a synthetic vaccine against malaria.
• Four times he has won the Alejandro Ángel Escobar National Science Award a distinction awarded by the Alejandro Ángel Escobar Foundation since 1954, highlighting the most important research in the area of science (1979, c. 1980, 1984 and 1986).
• The National Prize for Third World Sciences in Basic Medical Sciences (1990).
• ACAC to scientific merit, granted by the Colombian Association for the Advancement of Science (1989).

Honoris causa doctorate

Honoris Causa doctorates from various universities, including:

• Universidad Nacional de Colombia, 1988.
• Universidad Metropolitana de Barranquilla, (Colombia) 1989.
• Complutense University of Madrid, 1995.
• University of Costa Rica, 1995.
• Central University of Colombia, 1996.
• University of Cantabria, 1997.
• National University of Athens, 1998.
• University of Valladolid, 2001.
• Universidad Santo Tomás, 2020.

Decorations

On the other hand, Patarroyo has received numerous decorations:

• The seven most outstanding young people in the world (1985).
• Knight of the Order of San Carlos by the Presidency of the Republic of Colombia (1984).

Posts

Patarroyo has made scientific publications on the research work of the Institute and its results, which have appeared in national and foreign magazines. Among the most important articles are those that appeared in the journal Nature in 1986 and 1987. Patarroyo has also participated as a speaker at national and foreign conferences and meetings.

Books

• Manuel Elkin Patarroyo: a new continent of science1994
• Patarroyo: Passion for life. Javier-Julio García Miravete. Wind Editions, La Coruña 2025.