| Posted: July 23, 2010 |
A dissolvable needle-free nanotechnology patch for vaccine delivery |
|
(Nanowerk News) University of Queensland (UQ) research has found the Nanopatch – a needle-free, pain-free method of vaccine delivery – is now dissolvable, eliminating the possibility of needle-stick injury.
|
|
Project leader Professor Mark Kendall, from the Australian Institute for Bioengineering and Nanotechnology, said the finding confirmed that the Nanopatch was a potential safer, cheaper alternative to needle vaccines.
|
|
The study was published recently in scientific journal Small.
|
|
"What we have been able to show for the first time is that the Nanopatch is completely dissolvable," Professor Kendall said.
|
|
"That means zero needles, zero sharps, zero opportunity for contamination and zero chance of needle-stick injury.
|
|
"The World Health Organisation estimates that 30 percent of vaccinations in Africa are unsafe due to cross contamination caused by needle-stick injury. That's a healthcare burden of about $25 per administration."
|
|
The Nanopatch is smaller than a postage stamp and is packed with thousands of tiny projections – invisible to the human eye – now dried to include the vaccine itself together with biocompatible excipients.
|
|
When the patch is placed against the skin, these projections push through the outer skin layer and deliver the biomolecules to the target cells.
|
|
When dry, the device is stable and strong. When the Nanopatch is applied to the skin, the projections immediately become wet, dissolving within minutes.
|
|
Research published in journal Plos One in April found that the Nanopatch achieved a protective immune response using an unprecedented one-hundredth of the standard needle and syringe dose.
|
|
Professor Kendall said this was 10 times better than any other delivery method.
|
|
Being both painless and needle-free, the Nanopatch offers hope for those with needle phobia, as well as improving the vaccination experience for young children.
|
|
"When compared to a needle and syringe, a Nanopatch is cheap to produce and it is easy to imagine a situation in which a Government might provide vaccinations for a pandemic such as swine flu to be collected from a chemist or sent in the mail," Professor Kendall said.
|
|
He said the work had been in progress for five years and his team hoped to start clinical trials soon.
|
|
The study was conducted using influenza vaccine but Professor Kendall said any vaccine could potentially be delivered via the Nanopatch.
|
|
Also published in a separate paper in Small is research showing the Nanopatch's success extends to candidate vaccines for West Nile virus and Chukunga virus.
|
|
Professor Kendall is based at both UQ's Australian Institute for Bioengineering and Nanotechnology and the Diamantina Institute.
|
|
His collaborators for this work include Professor Ian Frazer and researchers from the University of Melbourne.
|
