By reducing the dose needed to convey immunity adjuvants can help ensure sufficient vaccine is available to protect the population in the event of a pandemic. To further development Biomedical Advance Research and Development Authority (BARDA) has awarded a $1.8m (€1.4m) contract.
Having won the contract the Infectious Disease Research Institute (IDRI) will expand its adjuvant research programme. IDRI, a US-based non-profit, has researched how Toll-like receptors (TLRs) can be used to formulate adjuvants that generate strong and long-lasting immunity.
"BARDA is supporting an important expansion of IDRI's technology to solutions that address neglected diseases as well as those that affect us all in the US", says Darrick Carter, director of formulations at IDRI and principal investigator on the BARDA influenza contract.
Further development and manufacture of priority candidates approved by the agency could be worth up to $8.5m over three years. Carter hopes the adjuvant research “will allow for expansion of vaccine supply to meet the necessary global demands during a pandemic”.
PharmaJet and USAMRIID collaboration
PharmaJet has entered into a cooperative research and development agreement (CRADA) with the US Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases (USAMRIID). The deal will use the PharmaJet needle-free jet injection technology to deliver a candidate smallpox vaccine.
USAMRIID’s smallpox vaccine, called 4pox, uses a combination of genes that when delivered together provide protection against orthopoxviruses, such as monkeypox virus, in animal models.
Gene-based molecular vaccines have shown potential, leading USAMRIID, and other organisations, to search for safe, effective and practical delivery technologies and adjuvants. 4pox has been evaluated using muscle electroporation and gene gun technology.