Researchers develop technique to eradicate polio

Various vaccines have managed to cut down on the number of polio cases. However, the disease still prevails in our society making many people as its victims. Now, researchers have found a way to combat this remaining percentage of polio cases.

Through funds provided by the World Health Organization (WHO), researchers from University of Queensland (UQ) have developed a microscopic technique for delivering vaccines that can eliminate polio virus; they call this technique as ‘Nanopatch’. This technique works more effectively than the previous methods by using needles or syringes.

Head of UQ’s School of Chemistry Paul Young exclaimed, “This most recent study showed the Nanopatch enhanced responses to all three types of inactivated poliovirus vaccines (IPV) – a necessary advancement from using the current live oral vaccine.”

“We are extremely grateful to the WHO for providing funding to Vaxxas Pty Ltd, the biotechnology company commercializing the Nanopatch. The support specifically assists pre-clinical studies and good manufacturing practices,” he continued. Their research has been published in the journal Scientific Reports.

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Mark Kendall, the patch inventor said, “It targets the abundant immune cell populations in the skin’s outer layers, rather than muscle, resulting in a more efficient vaccine delivery system.”

“The ease of administration, coupled with dose reduction observed in this study suggests that the Nanopatch could facilitate inexpensive vaccination of inactivated poliovirus vaccines,” he added.

Along with being effective, the vaccines delivered from Nanopatch are also cheap and easy to transport and store. It contains the ability to eradicate polio forever and can also alter how vaccines are administered. Nanopatch could be applied for various other diseases as well. If this method proved to be successful and made commercially accessible, it could make vaccines available for all, reported Futurism.

According to Phys.org, researcher David Hoey expressed, “The research we are undertaking in conjunction with UQ and WHO can improve the reach of life-saving vaccines to children everywhere.”