NanoPass microneedle device provides significant dose sparing
NanoPass Technologies of Israel has developed a microneedle-based device that it says could dramatically enhance both the effectiveness and supply of pandemic flu vaccines.
NanoPass Technologies of Israel has developed a microneedle-based device that it says could dramatically enhance both the effectiveness and supply of pandemic flu vaccines.
MicronJet allows for consistent, reliable, and simple delivery of the vaccine directly into the skin. It has been shown in multiple clinical trials that injecting a seasonal influenza vaccine directly into the skin harnesses this potent immune organ, and allows for both the reduction of the dose required for the same immune response, as well as the ability to potentiate this response, with the use of equivalent doses.
Researchers at the Faculty of Medicine, Vaccine & Infectious Disease Institute, Centre for the Evaluation of Vaccination, in Antwerp, Belgium, led by Pierre Van Damme, have found that the MicronJet can reduce the dose of a seasonal flu vaccine by 80% while preserving its efficacy. An abstract of their study was published in Vaccine.
"This effect is thought to be achieved by targeting the potent specialised immune cells that reside in the skin," said Dr Ofer Sharon, medical director of NanoPass. "This means that health authorities can use the same amount of vaccine they have sourced, to vaccinate at least double, if not triple, the number of subjects, with the same vaccine purchase."
NanoPass is designing clinical studies to demonstrate this effect for the A (H1N1) virus.
This approach is also being tested for a variety of major diseases that do not yet have an effective vaccine, such as malaria, HIV and tuberculosis.
MicronJet is approved for marketing in the EU and is about to be registered in additional markets.
