by Charlotte Kilpatrick | Oct 24, 2024 | Technology |
The University of Connecticut (UConn) announced in October 2024 that associate Professor Thanh Nguyen’s research has received “significant” backing from The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. The Gates Foundation has awarded a series of grants totalling $6.6 million, following support from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and the US Department of Agriculture (USDA). The funding will contribute to research and innovation for a microneedle array patch that can deliver multiple human vaccines at once. The Foundation initially awarded $2 million, which has increased after early success.
Microneedle array patch technology
Dr Thanh Nguyen works in the College of Engineering’s School of Mechanical, Aerospace, and Manufacturing Engineering. His microneedle method is “far less painful” than traditional syringe delivery and offers access and uptake benefits.
“What if we were able to mail people vaccines that don’t need refrigeration, and they could apply to their own skin like a bandage?”
The technology delivers highly concentrated vaccines in powder from over months, through a “nearly painless” 1-centimetre-square biodegradable patch.
“The primary argument is that getting vaccines and boosters is a pain. You have to go back two or three times to get these shots. With the microneedle platform, you put it on once, and it’s done.”
Funding increases
After the initial award of $2 million, the project made good progress and received additional funding to support the development of a scale-up manufacturing technology to produce patches on an industrial scale. In late September, the Gates Foundation awarded $4 million to take the patch “a step farther” as a pentavalent and Polio vaccine targeting diphtheria, tetanus, pertussis, HIV, Hepatitis B, and Polio. With this funding, the team can “build up productivity”. They are partnering with LTS to scale up production and are expanding the size of laboratory.
The award also marks a fundraising milestone for Dr Nguyen, who has earned more than $25 million in research awards, which he reflects “doesn’t come naturally”.
“It comes from the recognition of the high impact of the research and the lab’s success in publishing articles. It is a testament to the importance of what we are doing.”
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by Charlotte Kilpatrick | Oct 18, 2024 | Technology |
In October 2024 the Animal and Plant Health Agency (APHA) and The Vaccine Group (TVG) announced that Innovate UK has awarded them a Smart grant in excess of £400,000 to advance a novel viral vector platform. In a project lasting 19 months, the two organisations will use technology developed by TVG scientists in candidate vaccines for two “important diseases in cattle”: bovine respiratory syncytial virus (BRSV) and lumpy skin disease (LSD). The project will continue previous research, which identified potential vaccine candidates; it is supported by the World Reference Laboratory for Non-Vesicular Diseases at The Pirbright Institute, determining how the candidates can produce an adequate serological response in animals and protect cattle.
BRSV and LSD
Bovine respiratory syncytial virus (BRSV) is the leading viral cause of respiratory illness in young calves in the UK. It affects around 1.9 million calves each year, costing approximately £54 million. It is “prevalent worldwide” and poses a “substantial economic burden” on beef and dairy producers. In the past 10 years, lumpy skin disease (LSD) has spread “dramatically” beyond former natural enzootic geographies in Africa and the Middle East to cause “severe disease” in other regions.
Both diseases have “broad global prevalence”, and BRSV particularly affects intensively reared cattle. Currently available commercial vaccines for BRSV do not prevent shedding and are restricted from use in young calves by maternal immunity. There are no DIVA (differentiating infected from vaccinated animals) vaccines available for LSD, so use is limited to areas where serosurveillance and eradication programmes are in place.
TVG’s vaccine solutions
The Vaccine Group (TVG) hope to address these challenges. With “key opinion leaders” for the two diseases in the UK and Canada, TVG has inserted transgenes for protective antigens from each virus into two separate constructs through genetic manipulation. Both vaccine candidates have been shown to be genetically stable and have demonstrated “stable and prolonged” protein expression in tissue culture over multiple passages. The technology works by introducing a benign virus to cattle, which stimulates the expression of proteins to induce an immune response.
Chief Executive Officer at TVG, Dr Jeremy Salt, reflected that infectious diseases are a “major cause for concern” for cattle farmers around the world, leading to “significant losses – both in terms of animal health and welfare, and in financial terms”.
“Our goal in developing a viral vector platform for use in cattle effective vaccines is to overcome some of the deficiencies that affect the current commercialised vaccines. By doing so, we can better protect the farmers, their animals, and their livelihoods.”
Dr Salt also hopes to “make beef and milk production more efficient, humane, and sustainable”, whilst “helping the sector address the global challenges of antibiotic resistance and carbon emissions”.
We look forward to hearing from Dr Salt at the Congress in Barcelona in just a few weeks; get your tickets to join us there and don’t forget to subscribe to our weekly newsletters here.
by Charlotte Kilpatrick | Oct 11, 2024 | Technology |
Orlance, Inc., announced in October 2024 that it has been awarded a National Institutions of Health (NIH) Fast Track Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) grant to develop an Enhanced Seasonal Influenza Vaccine that provides “better protection against disease” even in years when there is a mismatch between predicted and actual circulating strains. The award includes $300,000 for Phase I; the total funding for the Phase I and II combined programme amounts to $3.3 million. The grant enables Orlance to leverage its innovative MACH-1 powdered vaccine and immunotherapy platform to address both seasonally changing and highly conserved influenza immunogens.
MACH-1 for influenza
MACH-1 is a high-performance microparticle ‘gene gun’ technology that “efficiently and uniquely” delivers DNA or RNA vaccine-coated microparticles into cells in the epidermis, which is “rich in immune stimulating cells”. An advantage of this technology in comparison with currently licensed mRNA vaccines is that MACH-1-delivered vaccines are stable at room temperature and are painless and needle-free. These vaccines also offer protective levels of immunity with the “smallest doses yet achieved within the field”.
The grant will enable a project to address the limitations of current flu vaccines by broadening the number of influenza strains targeted in one vaccine. This means vaccine production can occur closer to influenza season and achieve a better match between predicted and actual circulating strains. It will also stimulate “more diverse types of immune responses” in systemic and localised cells. The programme builds on Orlance’s universal influenza vaccine, adding seasonally changing influenza antigens to maximise protection.
Excelling in the field
Orlance’s Head of Research and Development and Principal Investigator Dr Kenneth Bagley commented on the importance of the MACH-1 technology.
“The unique properties of MACH-1 delivery into the highly immune competent epidermis that generates potent systemic and local respiratory mucosal antibody- and T cell-mediate immunity, coupled with the large payload capacity of DNA vaccines, may allow for Orlance’s universal influenza vaccine to excel where other universal vaccines have failed.”
Kristyn Aalto, CEO of Orlance, recognised the “continued funding support” from NIH.
“[The] support of the MACH-1 platform including this enhanced seasonal influenza vaccine reinforces the potential impact and significant step forward MACH-1 can bring to vaccine technology.”
We welcome Kristyn to the Congress in Barcelona this month for the Mucosal and Alternative Delivery workshop; get your tickets to join us for this here, and don’t forget to subscribe to our weekly newsletters here.
