Nanopatch wins The Australian Innovation Challenge

The awards keep rolling in for the needle-free vaccination technology, Nanopatch, developed by Vaxxas, which has won the overall award at the inaugural The Australian Innovation Challenge.

Last year it won the 2010 Translational Research Excellence Commercialisation Award at the TRX10 conference, and this year Professor Mark Kendall received the Australian Research Council Eureka Prize for Excellence in Research by an Interdisciplinary Team for his role in creating the technology.

Nanopatch was last night’s manufacturing and high-tech design category winner and also won the top gong, beating other inventions in categories of agriculture and food, health, minerals and energy, ICT, education and environment.

The Nanopatch was spawned at the University of Queensland’s Australian Institute for Bioengineering and Nanotechnology ( AIBN) by Kendall and his team, and has several major benefits compare to other vaccination delivery technologies.

The patch requires only a fraction of the dosage typically required via an injected vaccine, and it is painlessly administered. It can also be stored without refrigeration, making it suitable for use in developing countries without extensive health and refrigeration infrastructure. It also eliminates the risk of needle-stick injury.

Vaxxas is commercialising the patch with help from the federal government’s Innovation Investment Fund and funding from private investors.