2024-03-15 09:40:50
March 15, 2024 Today at 10:31
UGent will carry out a study on the possibility of administering messenger RNA vaccines in powder form, which would facilitate their delivery.
Belgian researchers are studying the possibility of administering messenger RNA vaccines in powder form, thanks to a new technique. The serum would then have the advantage of being able to remain at room temperature, and not be stored in refrigerators as during the Covid-19 pandemic.
The centrifuge freezing technique involves solidifying the vaccine along the wall of a vial. A manufacturer would then, thanks to this method, have more control over the production process and vaccines would no longer need to be frozen. This can have considerable advantages in vaccine production during a pandemic.
The technique in question was designed by Belgian professor Thomas De Beer, and should accelerate and simplify the production and distribution of vaccines in the future. An international partnership, CEPI is allocating 1.75 million euros to continue research on this method, which will be carried out at UGent.
If the tests prove successful, future producers of messenger RNA vaccines will be able to freeze them continuously, vial by vial. And not in batches, as is the case today with traditional dry freezing. This would allow reduce costs and delaysbut alsoquickly deliver vaccines to poorer regions of the globe where refrigeration infrastructure is not guaranteed.
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Stop an epidemic
This new technique could meet the objective endorsed by the G20 of accelerating the development of a vaccine up to approximately 100 days after the identification of a future virusin order to stop an epidemic before it turns into a pandemic.
On Thursday, ULB and the University of Antwerp announced their participation in another research project also funded by CEPI to evaluate new vaccines against the coronavirus, but based on more traditional technologies, administered nasally. This project, worth 62 million euros, is led by Imperial College London and carried out, on the Belgian side, by the European Plotkin Institute for Vaccinology at ULB and Vaccinopolis at the University of Antwerp.
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