Medicine: How Should We Be Transporting Vaccines?

Flexible films are able to deliver important medication.

Traditional vaccines remind us of the sharp syringe. However, vaccines may soon debut themselves as not the shots but in film form.

“The race is on to identify an effective vaccine for the COVID-19 virus. Once discovered, the next challenge will be manufacturing and distributing it around the world.” Maria Coyle, Professor of Pharmaceutics at the University of Texas at Austin

Vaccines Make Debut As Films

Pharmaceutics expert Maria A. Croyle and a team of medical researchers in the University of Texas have been developing innovative medicine in which thin sheets preserve the vaccines and other biological medicines for long periods without refrigeration.What once would have required vials of glass, and fragile material have been replaced by light, peel-able films which can be mailed in envelopes to be stored on shelves.

This technology has been under development from 2007, and inspired by her ability for the preservation of insect DNA and other living things, the researchers set out to create their own versions of the substance by mixing different ratios of different products. The components of the films are also tailored for each specific content of the vaccine, as it is inclusive around a covering that encases the contents inside.

The stabilization of the elements of the contents inside the film has been found to be maximized by the intermixing of ingredients. This process is quick, using affordable, standard bench top equipment. It was aimed to be easily distributed to developing countries. Immunization programs have been dependent on keeping vaccines chill. When they are transported across many countries over thousands of kilometres, it is apparent that the delivery is very costly and dangerous. This will make the vaccines very ineffective.This new formulation is also able to store the live viruses, bacteria, antibodies for several months. Scientists showed that live viruses in one vaccine could be preserved in the film even after 36 months. They also found that compared to a traditional vaccine, the film vaccine is much more favorably suspended that a traditional flu shot. It as noted that each vaccine type additionally needs a custom formulation of the future stage for development. Finding partners of scaling to manufacture clinical trials have been a very pressing hurdle as the packaging methods are also under review. Size was a major advantage of the platform, which was a letter sized sheet of film that is able to carry more than 500 doses. By making it easier for storage and shipping, the technology would also be able to improve immunization rates over the world in the middle to low income countries.

References: June 2020, Scientific American Vaccine Transport