The Infectious Disease Research Institute (IDRI) announced it has received a multi-million dollar grant from the Defence Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), and the Army Research Office (ARO), both parts of United States Department of Defence. This new funding will support IDRI's development of a single dose influenza vaccine to be widely administered in case of pandemic flu outbreak.

The proposal combines cutting-edge vaccine adjuvant technology from IDRI and a micro-needle delivery device. Intradermal vaccine delivery has proven benefits over conventional administration methods and may enhance protection as well as allowing for a reduction in the amount of antigen needed. A similar beneficial effect has been observed with some of IDRI's adjuvants.

Dr Darrick Carter, director of Formulations at IDRI and Principal Investigator said, “We are in a unique position to bring the vaccine adjuvant and the delivery technologies together to elicit better and more rapid stimulation of the body's defences.” This grant will support IDRI's proof-of-concept preclinical and phase I clinical work, combining technologies to make a vaccine capable of being effective after only a single shot.

The device-adjuvant platform resulting from this program can be applied to intradermal delivery of a variety of vaccine products, targeting many of the world's most challenging diseases.

Adjuvants are compounds used to improve the body's immune response to vaccines. Adjuvant technology is proving invaluable in the development of vaccines for serious diseases for which vaccines are not currently available, including malaria and HIV.

Adjuvants are a key research component of IDRI's malaria, tuberculosis, leishmaniasis, and leprosy vaccine development programs — supported by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, the National Institutes of Health, and the American Leprosy Missions.

IDRI is a Seattle-based not-for-profit organization committed to applying innovative science to the research and development of products to prevent, detect, and treat infectious diseases of poverty. By integrating capabilities — including preclinical vaccinology, manufacturing, and clinical trials — IDRI strives to create an efficient pathway bringing scientific innovation from the lab to the people who need it most.