Vaccines without needles

[Witness]

Vaccines without needles – new shelf-stable film could revolutionize how medicines are distributed worldwide

The race is on to identify an effective vaccine for the COVID-19 virus. Once discovered, the next challenge will be manufacturing and distributing it around the world.

My research group has developed a novel method to stabilize live viruses and other biological medicines in a rapidly dissolving film that does not require refrigeration and can be given by mouth.

Since the ingredients to make the film are inexpensive and the process is relatively simple, it could make vaccine campaigns much more affordable. Large quantities could be shipped and distributed easily given its flat, space saving shape.

Globally, vaccination rates have improved over the past decade, but are still too low – 13.5 million children were not vaccinated in 2018. This new technology, recently published in the journal Science Advances, has the potential to dramatically improve global access to vaccines and other biological medicines.

Inspired by hard candy

My research team began developing this technology in 2007, when the National Institutes of Health asked us to develop a needle-free, shelf-stable delivery method for a vaccine.

The idea of developing a film was inspired by a documentary about how the DNA of insects and other living things can be preserved for millions of years in amber. This got us thinking about hard candy, like my grandmother used to make.

It was a simple idea, yet no one had tried it. So we went to work mixing a variety of formulations containing natural ingredients like sugars and salts and testing them for their ability to form a solid amber-like candy.

Initially, many of the preparations we tested either killed the organism as the film formed or crystallized during storage, shredding the virus or the bacteria we were trying to preserve.

But finally, after about 450 tries over the course of a year, we found a formulation that could suspend viruses and bacteria in a peelable film.

As we gained more experience with the production process, we worked to simplify it so extensive technical training would not be needed to make it. Additionally, we tweaked the ingredients so they would dry faster, enabling one to make a batch of vaccine in the morning and ship it after lunch.

I’m involved with a startup aiming to get this technology to market within the next two years.

https://i.imgur.com/rUp5ByB.jpg

https://theconversation.com/vaccines-wi ... ide-132479 for the rest.

[Anaxagoras]

Don't you want to kill it or at least disable it?

There's already vaccines without needles, like the oral polio vaccine, fwiw.

I’m involved with a startup aiming to get this technology to market within the next two years.

That's nice, but I think I'll wait for FDA approval to get excited about this.

[Rob Lister]

Don't you want to kill it or at least disable it?

My understanding is, sometimes. For example:

There's already vaccines without needles, like the oral polio vaccine, fwiw.

Oral Polio! While it is true the current polio vaccine is usually not-live, prior to the year 2000, it almost always was.
https://www.webmd.com/children/vaccines ... cine-ipv#1

I’m involved with a startup aiming to get this technology to market within the next two years.

That's nice, but I think I'll wait for FDA approval to get excited about this.

It's just a conversation, and the writer is certainly no crackpot.
http://www.croylelab.com/about-dr-c
She has a long string of successes in this game.

I'm not excited either, but ...I approve!

[shemp]

This is great news! It makes it easier for millions of children to catch TEH AUTIZM!!!

[Witness]

To me the important point is that it would allow vaccines to be safely distributed in the poorest parts of our sad planet. If it works.