Vaccines Without Refridgeration

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Innovate UK
Innovate UK
Innovate UK
Innovate UK
Innovate UK

£1,498,300

Feb. 1, 2023

Jan. 31, 2024

Vaccines are known to be the most effective medical innovation in human history, credited with saving over 10 million lives since 1962\. The significant challenge with vaccines however is that they have to be kept refrigerated, between 2-8°C, at all times during their storage and transport, requiring a global infrastructure of refrigeration equipment known as the cold chain. This system is extremely costly to operate and prone to regular failures, the NHS reports almost 300,000 vaccines doses are wasted each year due to cold chain failures. Globally 1.5 million infants die each year from vaccine-preventable diseases, mainly in hot climates and low-middle income countries.

Not only is this an issue with human vaccine distribution, but also with animal vaccines used in farming. In the UK, the British Veterinary Association estimates that only 27 % of vaccines administered by farmers are stored according to manufacturer guidelines.

EnsiliTech has developed a novel technology to preserve vaccines, without the need for fridges and freezers at any point in their storage and distribution, called ensilication. The technology is highly scalable, using inexpensive materials and processes, making it easy to apply post-production. Ensilication aims to be applicable to most vaccines, allowing high degrees of protection against extremely low and high temperatures, high humidity, sunlight and acidity.

The technology has been tested on a range of different biomolecules, ensuring that the vaccines will be fully protected and that there is no loss of efficacy in the protected vaccines.

Over the course of the project, EnsiliTech will apply ensilication technology to relevant real world vaccines for diseases endemic to global animal populations. These are orally administered vaccines, reducing the use of needles and allowing more efficient vaccine administration and patient compliance. A thermally-stable oral tablet vaccine would revolutionise both the animal and human vaccine sectors, creating a new gold standard for vaccine preservation.