"Childhood vaccines that can be inhaled and delivered directly to mucosal surfaces have the potential to offer significant advantages over injection," Sievers said in the report. "Not only might they reduce the risk of infection from HIV, hepatitis, and other serious diseases due to unsterilized needles, they may prove more effective against disease."
To create an inhalable vaccine, Sievers and his team invented a patented process in which weakened measles virus is rendered — through complex chemistry — into an inhalable powder given to people through a small "plastic sack, with an opening like the neck of a plastic water bottle." The person takes a deep breath through the sack, and, presto, measles immunity is gained.
Sievers estimates that the vaccine would cost 26 cents per dose. And if the vaccine makes it through trials, the Serum Institute of India expects to make as many as 400 million doses a year.
Photo courtesy of American Chemical Society
0 comments