# 4361
Among the challenges to providing vaccinations to people in developing countries has been the need to maintain a `cold chain’ – constant refrigeration – for the vaccine.
Most vaccines must be kept continually at refrigerator or freezer temperatures until they are administered. Different vaccines may have different temperature requirements.
Clinics routinely check (and log) the temperature of their storage refrigerator – usually twice a day. Vaccines that are not kept at their optimal temperature must be discarded.
Today we learn that researchers at Oxford University have tested what they say is a cheap and simple technique to make thermally stable vaccines that do not degrade significantly over a year’s time, even at tropical temperatures.
While I’m not normally quick to jump on `new technology’ press releases, this one has the potential to be a game changer, and so today I’ll make an exception.
This is a `proof of concept’ study, that they say shows the idea is feasible. How long before it could be put into the field is another matter altogether.
Public release date: 17-Feb-2010
New method makes vaccines stable at tropical temperatures
Pioneering partnership between Nova Bio-Pharma Technologies and Oxford University
A cheap and simple way of making vaccines stable – even at tropical temperatures – has been proven to work by scientists at Oxford University.
The British technology, developed by specialist manufacturer Nova Bio-Pharma Technologies, removes the need for fridges, freezers and associated health infrastructure. It has the potential to revolutionise vaccination efforts - particularly in the developing world where infectious diseases kill millions of people every year.
Oxford University carried out the proof-of-concept study on Nova's patented HydRIS (Hypodermic Rehydration Injection System) system, that creates thermally stable, instantly injectable formats. The results are due to be published in the journal Science Translational Medicine.
The team showed it was possible to store two different virus-based vaccines on sugar-stabilised membranes for 4 months at 45°C without any degradation. The vaccines could be kept for a year and more at 37°C with only tiny losses in the amount of viral vaccine re-obtained from the membrane. When required the membrane is then attached to a conventional syringe and flushed with liquid, with the re-dissolved product quickly and simply injected.
