Measles vaccine delivered using microneedle patch

ATLANTA, Georgia, USA – A study conducted by the Georgia Institute of Technology and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has led to the development of a method to dry and stabilize the measles vaccine in microneedle patches, which was shown to remain effective for at least 30 days. The researchers have also demonstrated that vaccination using these patches can immunize at least as well as vaccination using conventional hypodermic needles. The researchers were able to demonstrate that the dried vaccine was quickly released in the skin from the microneedle patch, and able to prompt a potent immune response in an animal model.

“We showed in this study that measles vaccine delivered using a microneedle patch produced an immune response that is indistinguishable from the response produced when the vaccine is delivered subcutaneously,” said Chris Edens, first author and a graduate student in the Wallace H. Coulter Department of Biomedical Engineering at Georgia Tech and Emory University.

This new technique could provide a new tool for international immunization programs against measles, which killed nearly 140,000 children in 2010. The study was published online in the journal Vaccine, and was supported by the Georgia Research Alliance, indirectly by the Division of Viral Diseases and Animal Resources Branch of the CDC, and by the National Institutes of Health.