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Breakthrough: No-Refrigeration Vaccines Offer Hope to Poorest Countries : 4th Mar 10
Scientists at Oxford University have discovered a way to keep vaccines stable without refrigeration. Writing in Science Translational Medicine, they say the breakthrough could greatly help efforts to immunise more children in rural Africa. The researchers mixed the vaccines with two types of sugar before slowly drying them on a filter paper. This preserved the jabs, which the scientists then easily reactivated when needed for injection.
The need to keep vaccines cool—to stop them deteriorating—often presents difficulties in developing countries where refrigerators and a reliable supply of electricity cannot be taken for granted.
The Oxford scientists report they kept vaccines stable for up to six months at 45C, using sucrose and another sugar called trehalose, which is known for its preservative properties. Funding for the research came from the foundation set up by Bill and Melinda Gates. It involved collaboration between the university scientists and a company, Nova Bio-Pharma Technologies.
The lead investigator, Prof Adrian Hill, commented, “If we could convert all the standard vaccines to a solution like this, it would mean they’re cheaper to deliver, because they’d survive at room temperature—and so there’d be scope to vaccinate more children. The technology is simple and extremely cheap—and there are no more scientific hurdles to overcome. Our tests were pretty tough as we used live viruses. So we feel that having stabilised those more fragile vaccines, this method should work for other vaccines containing dead protein.
It’s now just a matter of developing the technique, trying it out in Africa and seeing if it can be made on an industrial basis. This could happen within five years”. Another member of the research team, Dr Matt Cottingham, added, “Without the need for refrigeration, you could even picture someone with a backpack taking vaccine doses on a bike into remote villages”.
The GAVI Alliance, a public-private partnership working to accelerate immunisation in 72 of the world’s poorest countries, welcomed the news. “Keeping vaccines at the correct temperature all the way from the factory to children in the poorest and most remote communities is always an enormous challenge, so new ideas to remove barriers to the life-saving benefits of immunisation are extremely welcome”, said the group’s communication director, Dan Thomas. BBC. February 18.
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