UQ researchers awarded for syringe-free vaccination technology

A research team with the University of Queensland’s Australian Institute for Bioengineering and Nanotechnology ( AIBN) has been awarded the 2010 Translational Research Excellence Commercialisation Award.

Jointly sponsored by Merck Sharp and Dohme in the US, the award recognises the team’s needle-free vaccination delivery device Nanopatch, which promises to help simplify the vaccination process as well as greatly reduce the associated costs.

Part of the prize includes $10,000 team leader Professor Mark Kendall to attend the Bio 2011 convention in Washington DC where he will discuss with each company opportunities to commercialise the device.

“This is important, as it is a step towards partnering our Nanopatch with one of the world's leading vaccine companies,” professor Kendall said.

“Our ambition is for Nanopatch to be taken from the current stage of animal model success through the clinical trials, and on to the market as a next-generation vaccine delivery device, potentially displacing the needle and syringe.

“This progression requires commercialisation and partnership with the right players. This award is an important step along this pathway.”

The researchers have used mouse models to demonstrate the ability of Nanopatch to deliver protective immunisation in mice with under one percent of the dosage typically required when administered via needle and syringe.

Another potential boost to its market appeal is the fact that is painless, a major plus for the large numbers of people with needle-phobia. In addition, because the vaccine if formulated in dry form, it is thermostable and therefore able to be stored without refrigeration.

Smaller than a postage stamp, the Nanopatch is also dissolvable and therefore not a risk for needle-stick injury.

“When compared to needle and syringe immunisations – with all the associated costs – the Nanopatch is cheap to produce,” Professor Kendall said.

“It is easy to imagine a situation in which a government might provide vaccinations for a pandemic such as swine flu to be collected from a chemist or sent in the mail.”

Professor Kendall and his team have been working on Nanopatch for the past five years and, with a the help of the prize and its two corporate sponsored, hope to begin clinical trials soon.

The University of Queensland team has also been named among the finalists in the Australian Museum Eureka Prizes and the UQ Business School's national Enterprise Business Plan Competition.