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Biotechnology

Skin patch flu vaccine shows promise

Nature Reviews Drug Discovery volume 9, pages 680–681 (2010)Cite this article

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Using a moulding process, Sullivan and colleagues fabricated the microneedle patch from polyvinylpyrrolidone (PVP) — a water-soluble polymer widely used in medicine — that encapsulated a dried form of an inactivated influenza vaccine. When the patch is applied to skin the microneedles (650 μm in length) penetrate across the epidermis and dissolve within minutes to release at least 80% of the vaccine load. An added advantage of using this delivery method is that the depth of penetration is optimized to facilitate exposure of the vaccine to the abundant population of antigen-presenting cells that are present in the skin, which helps to maximize the chance of generating robust immune responses.

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ORIGINAL RESEARCH PAPER

  1. Sullivan, S. P. et al. Dissolving polymer microneedle patches for influenza vaccination. Nature Med. 16, 915–920 (2010)

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  1. Man Tsuey Tse
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Tse, M. Skin patch flu vaccine shows promise. Nat Rev Drug Discov 9, 680–681 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1038/nrd3258

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/nrd3258

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