MicroPyramid vaccine delivery to be developed
Medical device company NanoPass Technologies, based in Haifa in Israel, has signed an agreement with GlaxoSmithKline's biopharmaceutical centre of excellence for drug discovery (CEDD) to develop its MicroPyramid technology for the delivery of vaccines. The MicroPyramid technology offers the possibility of effective and painless administration of vaccines intra-epidermally. Conventional needles are too large to do this, and trans-dermal patch or chemical technologies are incapable of delivering large molecules efficiently.
'There is potential that this technology may lower the amount of antigen required to provide the same immune response, or potentially improve the protection rate by stimulating multiple immune pathways,' said NanoPass founder Shuki Yeshurun.
NanoPass Technologies focuses on microneedle drug delivery and diagnostics. Its MicroPyramid technology is said to provide a robust and effective platform for the painless delivery of human therapeutics, including large molecules like vaccines, therapeutic proteins and genes.
