Industrializing vaccine stabilization technology

我们的实验室最近发现了一种简单的方法来稳定疫苗，方法是将疫苗储存在由糖聚合物制成的薄膜中，这样它们就可以在不需要冷藏的情况下储存。相比之下，今天的疫苗不稳定，需要在持续冷藏中储存和运输--这是一个非常复杂的物流问题，通常被称为“冷链”。我们的突破引起了媒体、投资者和疫苗制造商的关注。我们都看到了改变所有疫苗在全球分布的巨大可能性，无论是在发达国家还是在发展中世界最偏远的地区--这是一个针对所有人的单一解决方案。维持冷链占疫苗接种总成本的很大一部分。世界偏远地区冷链能力有限，使得最需要接种疫苗的地方更难获得疫苗，以防止传染病的流行传播。这些偏远地区的电网通常不可靠(或根本不存在)，这限制了向世界上最脆弱的儿童提供疫苗的能力，因为这些疫苗可能会长期暴露在高温下，导致热降解加速。实现这一愿景的下一步是展示其对商业疫苗的适用性，并为大规模生产做准备。为了实现这一目标，这项建议的三个主要目标是(1)使技术适应商业可获得的疫苗，我们将使用三种主要疫苗(MMR、Prevnar®13和流感疫苗)来展示这一点；(2)证明该技术能够创造不同的形式来呈现疫苗--以薄膜、药丸、粉末、颗粒、粉末和涂层--这将为大型疫苗生产商提供创造新产品的灵活性；以及(3)制定战略和程序，将这项技术推向市场。我们将与世界领先的疫苗制造商不断对话，以确保产生尽可能大的影响。

Our laboratory has recently identified a simple method to stabilize vaccines by storing them as films made of sugar-polymers, so that they can be stored without the need for refrigeration. By contrast, today's vaccines are unstable and need to be stored and transported in constant refrigeration - a very complex logistical problem commonly referred to as the "cold chain". Our breakthrough has attracted the attention of the media, investors and the vaccine manufacturers. We all see immense possibility to change how all vaccines are distributed globally, both in the developed world and the most remote areas of the developing world - a single solution for all. Maintaining a cold chain accounts for a substantial portion of the overall cost of vaccination. Limitedcapacity of the cold chain in remote areas of the world makes vaccination less accessible where it is needed the most to prevent epidemic spreading of infectious diseases. These remote areas typically have unreliable (or non-existent) power grids - this limits the ability to deliver vaccines to the most vulnerable children in the world, as these vaccines can be exposed to elevated temperatures for protracted periods of time leading toaccelerated thermal degradation.The next step toward fulfilling this vision is to demonstrate its applicability to commercial vaccines and prepare for large scale manufacturing. To fulfill this, the three main goals of the this proposal are (1) adapting the technology to commercially available vaccines and we will use three major vaccines to show this (MMR,Prevnar® 13 and flu vaccines); (2) to show that the technology enables the creating of different forms to present the vaccines - as films, pills, powders, granules, powders and coatings - this will provide large scale vaccine producers the flexibility to create new products; and (3) to develop a strategy and process to bring this technology to the market.We will take these steps in constant dialogue with the world's leading vaccine manufactures to ensure the biggest impact possible.