Researchers and manufacturers say needleless vaccine patches are coming soon

The technology could help save children tears in doctors’ offices, and could help people who have a phobia of syringes.

In addition, skin patches can aid in delivery efforts, as they do not have cold-chain requirements – and may even enhance the efficacy of the vaccine.

A new mouse study in the area published in the journal Science Advances showed promising results.

David Muller, a virologist at the University of Queensland and a co-author of the paper, the Australian-American team used patches measuring one square centimeter that were dotted with more than 5,000 microscopic spikes, “so small that you can’t really see them.” Huh.” , told AFP.

These tips are coated with an experimental vaccine, and the patch is clicked on with an applicator to resemble a hockey puck. “It’s like you get a nice jolt on the skin,” Muller said.

The researchers used a so-called “subunit” vaccine that reproduces the spikes that dot the surface of the coronavirus.

Mice were injected either through the patch over the course of two minutes, or with a syringe.

The immune systems of those who received the patch produced high levels of neutralizing antibodies after two doses, including their lungs, vital for preventing covid, and the patch outperformed the syringes.

The researchers also found that a subset of mice, which were given only a single dose of the vaccine containing an additional substance called an adjuvant, which boosts the immune response, “didn’t get sick at all, Muller said.

-Easy to apply –

What makes them more effective?

Vaccines are usually injected into our muscles, but muscle tissue doesn’t have a lot of immune cells needed to react to the drug, Mueller explained.

In addition, the tiny spikes cause localized skin death, which alerts the body to a problem and triggers a greater immune response.

To the scientist, the logical benefits may not be obvious.

First, when dry-coated on a patch, the vaccine is stable for at least 30 days at 25 °C (77 °F) and one week at 40C (104F), while some at room temperature for Moderna and Pfizer. Vaccines compared to hours.

This provides a huge advantage especially for developing countries.

Second, “it’s very easy to use,” Muller said. “You don’t need highly trained medical professionals to deliver it.”

Burak Ozdognlar, a professor of engineering at Carnegie Mellon University in the US city of Pittsburgh, has also been working on the technology since 2007.

He sees yet another benefit: “The low amount of vaccine delivered precisely to the skin can activate an immune response similar to intramuscular injection,” he told AFP. This is an important factor as the developing world struggles to procure enough Covid vaccines.

Ozdoganlar can produce about 300-400 patches a day in his lab, but hasn’t been able to test them on mRNA vaccines that have surfaced during the pandemic, as they have not been authorized by Pfizer or Moderna. .

– ‘Future’ –

The patch used in the study, published Friday, was made by the Australian company Vaxxas, which is far and away. Human trials are planned from April.

Two other US companies are also part of the race: Micron Biomedicals and Vaxes.

The latter, founded in 2013 and based in Massachusetts, is working on a slightly different type of patch with microneedles that dissolve into the skin.

They say that this approach requires fewer spikes per patch – just 121 – made of a protein polymer that is biocompatible.

“We are working on a seasonal Covid and flu combination product that will be sent directly to patients’ homes for self-administration,” CEO Michael Schrader told AFP.

The Covid vaccine they are using is manufactured by the company Medigen, which is already authorized in Taiwan.

Waxes recently opened a factory near Boston, with funding from the US National Institutes for Health. Their goal is to produce enough patches to vaccinate 2,000 to 3,000 people in clinical trials, which are scheduled to begin next summer.

The main challenge right now is production, no manufacturer has been able to mass-produce enough patches yet.

“If you want to launch a vaccine you have to produce millions,” Schrader said. “We don’t have that scale like we do today – nobody really has that scale.”

But the pandemic has given a blow to the nascent industry, which is now attracting more investors, he said.

“This is the future, in my opinion, it is inevitable,” Schrader said. “I think you’re going to see over the next 10 years, it (will) dramatically change the way vaccines are received around the world.”

This story has been published without modification in text from a wire agency feed. Only the title has been changed.