Vaxxas, WHO explore Nanopatch polio vaccines

Vaxxas has commenced a WHO-funded research project involving using its Nanopatch technology to deliver vaccines for polio.

The project will cover pre-clinical studies and good manufacturing practices (GMP) research. The company and the WHO are evaluating whether Nanopatch can contribute to the total eradication of polio.

Incidents of the debilitating disease have been reduced by an estimated 99% since 1988, when more than 350,000 cases were being diagnosed every year. The global healthcare community is now making a push to eradicate the remaining strains forever.

Vaxxas’s Nanopatch vaccine delivery technology offers multiple potential advantages over the conventional syringe.

Nanopatch delivers its payload to the abundant immune cells below the surface of the skin, rather than into the blood.

Nanopatches prepared with vaccines also do not require refrigeration to maintain efficiency. Vaxxas CEO David Hoey said this is a “tremendously important factor for the transportation and application of polio vaccine in the remote regions of the world where eradication efforts are most challenging”.

Vaxxas plans to both pursue licensing deals for the Nanopatch technology and develop vaccine candidates of its own. In 2012, Vaxxas signed a deal with Merck to develop Nanopatch-based products for vaccine candidates developed by the latter company.