Cobra joins international consortium to develop oral vaccines

UK-based international manufacturer of biopharmaceuticals, Cobra Biomanufacturing has joined a consortium formed to develop a new vaccine delivery system based on live bacterial spores.

The initial disease targets will be malaria and tuberculosis, which kill millions of people annually, but the spore-based approach represents a platform technology to deliver vaccines against a wide range of diseases.

Spores of the harmless gut bacterium Bacillus subtilis are already taken orally as a probiotic to aid digestive health. The research programme will involve genetically engineered spores to express vaccine determinants on their coat.

Such spores are able to survive ingestion, and can therefore deliver the vaccine to the immune system of the gut and induce immunity. Spores are very stable and do not require cold storage, and the oral delivery will avoid the problems associated with needles, making this technology particularly valuable in developing countries.

Funded through a European Union Sixth Framework grant, coordinated by the Royal Holloway, University of London, the consortium includes international experts in immunology and vaccine development.

David Thatcher, ceo of Cobra Biomanufacturing, said: "This consortium brings together creative science from around the world including, UK, Germany, Italy, Austria and Vietnam with the aim of applying modern genetic techniques to develop cheap effective oral vaccines.'

Cobra has developed proprietary ORT-VAC technology a system for oral delivery of a vaccine that exploits the use of live bacteria that have been attenuated so they do not cause disease.