International Vaccine Institute (IVI) was established to accelerate development and introduction of vaccines to the developing world and to transfer new technologies to vaccine producers.
The development of sublingual vaccines could lead to the use of needle-free immunization programs. Under the collaboration, Carrington will formulate vaccine antigens supplied by the IVI for sublingual delivery and IVI will conduct animal testing. The target vaccine antigens and formulation forms will be selected by mutual agreement.
The research will utilize DelSite's polymer delivery technology, known as DelSite. DelSite's polymer has advantages because it can be prepared in different forms including a liquid, a soft gel, a powder, or a dried pad.
“Sublingual technology would allow for needle-free self-administration of the vaccines which should significantly reduce the number of trained professionals typically required for large immunization programs. Additionally, vaccines made with DelSite technology could be delivered without cold-chain storage, thereby facilitating vaccine distribution into remote communities where lack of refrigeration rules out the use of most current vaccines,” said Yawei Ni, senior scientist.