The University College Cork (UCC) School of Pharmacy, Department of Pharmacology and the Tyndall National Institute have  now developed a micro-needle-based patch which enables increased vaccine-induced protection against malaria.

The micro-needle-based patch is seen to improve the effectiveness of a vaccine against Malaria using lower doses in pre-clinical testing.    The skin patch has arrays of tiny silicon ‘micro-needles’ that painlessly create temporary pores in the outermost barrier layer of the skin, permitting the vaccine to flow into the skin. The experimental vaccine was based on a live adenovirus. This virus is similar to the ones causing common cold, but is engineered to be safer and to deliver a protein from the malaria-causing parasite, to the immune system.

Adenoviruses are one of the most potent vaccine platforms tested to date in humans. These are under development to prevent and treat malaria, HIV, influenza and Ebola and combat other infections. The robust anti-adenovirus immunity prevents its repeated use as a vaccine because the immune system recognises it and prevents the delivery of malaria protein. So another vaccine type or adenovirus strain was used in the booster immunisation.

The researchers combined two vaccine technologies to determine if immunity could be enhanced. It was indicated that using a micro needle patch induced protective immunity to some of the world’s most fatal diseases. It also has significant consequences on the costs and logistics of vaccination, Dr. Anne Moore, Lecturer, School of Pharmacy, Dept. of Pharmacology & Therapeutics, University College Cork, told Pharmabiz in an email.

The research led by Dr. Moore in collaboration with colleagues at the Jenner Institute, University of Oxford was published by Nature Publication Group in Scientific Reports and funded by Enterprise Ireland and Science Foundation Ireland. The study spanned around three years and four scientists were associated with it.

“We have published two researches on malaria vaccines using silicon micro needles and coated micro needles. Our research extends from basic cellular immunology to clinical translation. No clinical trials are conducted. But now the researchers are working on dissolvable micro-needle patches incorporating virus vector based malaria vaccines, which is being funded by the Health Research Board of Ireland. We are aiming to identify funding to bring this to clinical trial,” she said.

A few weeks ago, Dr Moore visited to Silicon Valley to participate in an event hosted by Irish Technology Leadership Group (ITLG) as part of an SFI initiative for researchers to help develop entrepreneurial skills under the Get Started Venture Technology programme.