Needle-free influenza vaccine on the horizon

Hope is on the horizon for needle-phobic patients as Griffith University researchers have created a new influenza vaccine composition designed to be administered via the nose.

Griffith University Principal Research Leader, Professor Bernd Rehm said his team reprogrammed bacterial cells to create a robust vaccine designed for intranasal delivery.

“The safe and synthetic particles mimic the actual virus and trigger an immune response, preventing infection,” Professor Rehm said.

“By boosting the T cells along the respiratory tract, the vaccine induced protection against influenza virus variants in vivo.

“These reprogrammed bacterial cells factories have the ability to abundantly produce the desired vaccine particles which means we can produce large amounts of the vaccine in a short period of time.

“The added benefit is the intranasal delivery via a drop method thereby boosting immunity along the respiratory tract, which makes it ideal for people who are needle phobic.

“A nasal drop administration can significantly limit respiratory virus replication and shedding.

“More work needs to be done, but we hope to see a human intranasal influenza vaccine available to the public in the next three to four years.”

The vaccine platform’s useability extends beyond human influenza, and could be used to prevent avian influenza, swine influenza, and other animal flus as the vaccine technology is robust and cost-efficient.

The entire manufacturing process leads to a vaccine with outstanding stability making the vaccine suitable for stockpiling.

Professor Bernd Rehm, from the Institute for Biomedicine and Glycomics’ Centre for Cell Factories and Biopolymers, said: “The generation of new influenza vaccine which can provide long-term protection against a range of seasonal and emerging variants would be a major health and economic benefit.”

The research paper ‘Intranasal epitope-polymer vaccine lodges resident memory T cells protecting against influenza virus’ has been published in Advanced Healthcare Materials.

UN Sustainable Development Goals 3: Good Health and Well-being