New vaccine technology does not require refrigeration

Main Category: Public Health
Article Date: 20 Oct 2004 - 9:00 PDT


Scientists at Cambridge Biostability (CBL), UK have developed a new technology that can store and deliver vaccines without the need for refrigeration. This will be a blessing for health care professionals and patients in the more remote parts of the world where refrigeration is difficult to sustain. This technology also means vaccines will be much cheaper.

It is estimated that about half of all vaccines around the world perish because of temperature. Millions of lives could be saved if these vaccines did not need refrigeration.

The new technology is known as Stable-Liquid Vaccine Technology.

A spokesman for the Dept of International Development, Dr Steward Tyson said "It could revolutionise how we deliver vaccines in the developing world. This technology offers the potential to deliver vaccines outside the cold chain." The Dept for International Development is one of the funders of this project.

According to WHO, refrigeration adds greatly to the cost of storing and delivering vaccines around the world. The WHO says that an extra 10 million children would be vaccinated, using current budget limits, if refrigeration were not needed.

The British scientists have dried the vaccine molecules and embedded them in miniscule sugar beads (glass spheres). Each bead is inert, completely stable - no refrigeration required.

The scientists got the idea from mother nature. In nature, many plants can remain in a desiccated state for centuries - then one day, they come back to life.

The beads (spheres) remain in a stable liquid (injectable) - the vaccine is not released until it dissolves in the body after injection.

30% of all children born each year in the world are not vaccinated. This technology could mean that the number of newborns who miss out could fall dramatically.

This technology may also allow for slow release vaccines (no boosters needed).

Cambridge Biostability (CBL) has tested the technology on animals.

Health experts say the possibilities for this technology are exciting.

• Additional
• References
• Citations