A pooled analysis of three countries’ phase 3 trials in Kenya, Mali, and Zambia found that targeted sugar baits did not significantly reduce clinical malaria, with a possible dose-response signal appearing only post-hoc. The result narrows expectations for sugar baits as a stand-alone tool. For malaria programs and R&D teams, the analysis highlights the importance of deployment density and operational parameters in vector-control strategies. It also strengthens the role of iterative field optimization—turning late-stage trial readouts into design changes rather than abandoning the intervention category.