An innovation in vaccine delivery that uses a skin patch to administer DNA vaccines has been awarded funding to develop a manufacturing process to enable scale-up of the technology.
Dr James Dixon with colleagues (Dr. Maria Marlow, Dr. David Scurr) in the School of Pharmacy at the University of Nottingham and project partner Cardiff University have been awarded funding from the second VaxHub Global Platform Funding, UK call.
This project will develop a manufacturing process for a needle-free skin patch that can deliver DNA vaccines and be self-administered without trained healthcare staff. Unlike current vaccines, these patches are stable at room temperature, reducing the need for cold storage and enabling rapid, large-scale distribution.
Using this funding we can now work towards creating a scalable manufacturing process for DNA vaccines using coated microblade patches that can overcome key barriers in vaccine deployment. This technology could transform how vaccines are delivered in the UK and globally, improving access, reducing healthcare burden, and strengthening preparedness for future pandemics.
The team are working with experts in the Faculty of Engineering at the University of Nottingham (Dr, Geoffery Rivers) to develop and test additive manufacturing processes for the patches that will allow fast and efficient production and ultimately allow the self-delivery of vaccines safely at home.
Dr Dixon explains; "We saw with Covid the need for a vaccine to be developed and deployed very quickly, but there are many barriers to this including the need for cold-storage and delivery of the vaccine with a needle via trained healthcare professionals. Our needle-free patch removes those barriers and we aim to reach a point where we can show that a needle free patch could be developed, manufactured and reach the end used in less than 100 days ."
Dr Dixon is a member of the Nottingham Vaccine Network (NVN) that has 30 University of Nottingham academics and clinicians developing vaccines across a multitude of human and animal pathogens spanning bacteria, viruses and parasites. The Network's research spans the entire vaccine production pipeline; from design (including antigen selection by in silico modelling and structural biology), developing novel delivery systems, discovering adjuvants, formulation (with a strong interest in thermostability), through to pre-clinical and clinical testing.
Dr Ruth Griffin from the School of Life Sciences co-founded the NVN and brokered its membership of the UCL–Oxford Global and Sustainable VaxHubs earlier this year.
I'm thrilled the NVN is already benefiting from this partnership with the world's top players in the vaccine space. Together our Network is driving innovation in vaccines, and we are continuously expanding our network and encouraging new ECRs to join us for opportunities to connect with others and be involved in bid development. By working with other vaccine networks, we share our expertise, models and capabilities and accelerate progress in the development of new and improved vaccines.
