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| home > epc > summer 2002 > pain-free immunisation - the future of vaccine delivery |
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European Pharmaceutical Contractor
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The last decade has seen an increasing interest in novel vaccine delivery systems, some with the potential to improve efficacy, safety profiles and standards of compliance. Traditional needle and syringe vaccinations are associated with unwanted infection in both patients and health care workers, while 'needlephobia' and discomfort reduce uptake rates, particularly in children. In the US alone, over a million people suffer injury or infection from needles and, as a result, require further treatment which is often costly. Improving the safety of prophylactic vaccine delivery is especially pertinent because the purpose of the treatment is to prevent disease. In many cases, parenteral immunisation has also failed to provide an effective method for stimulation of both arms of the immune system and the provision of mucosal or cell-mediated (cytotoxic lymphocytes and lymphatic immunity), as well as humoral responses (1).
Almost all viral, bacterial and parasitic disease-causing agents gain access to the body via one of the large mucosal surfaces (such as the nose, intestines, lungs and vagina), which form part of the lymphatic system. Consequently, lymphatic immunity is vital to the acquisition of effective defence against many diseases that, as yet, are not pharmaceutically preventable. However, the majority of currently available parenteral vaccines fail to stimulate this arm of the immune response. This failure to provide adequate lymphatic immunity reduces efficacy and, therefore, uptake rate and potential price points of many vaccines. As such, the development of novel vaccine delivery systems, capable of invoking cell mediated immune responses, could introduce both higher efficacy vaccines in existing indications and novel products in new indications.
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Industry Events |
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4th Annual Patient Recruitment and Retention in Clinical Trials
13-15 October 2008, Amsterdam
Patient recruitment
is now consuming thirty percent of clinical trial time - more time than any
other clinical trial activity - and almost half of all trial delays result from
patient recruitment problems.
As the
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striving to discover new strategies to facilitate enrollment in clinical
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News and Press Releases |
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MipTec, October 14 – 16, 2008, Switzerland
MipTec about to take off by joining forces between Life Sciences Week, ALL-SystemsX.ch-Day, & Jobvector.com
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