Vaccine administration technologies - Beyond needles

Novel vaccine administration technologies have the potential to improve vaccine developers' commercial competitiveness and to increase vaccination safety and convenience. This report assesses key strategies, technologies and products for novel dermal and mucosal vaccine administration. It also provides an overview of opportunities and challenges for the sector and a future outlook.

Needle-free vaccine delivery into and through the skin is an important focus of vaccine research, with key technologies including intradermal patches, microneedles and needle-free liquid, solid and powder injectors. Recognizing the skin as an important immunologic organ, researchers mainly hope for an improved immune response using this approach.

The largest potential for success of mucosal vaccine delivery lies in oral and intranasal administration, while pulmonary vaccination appears less promising due concerns regarding safety and reliable dosing. Careful selection of suitable indications for mucosal delivery routes will be key to success in this challenging sector.

Antigen stability, safety and efficacy are the key hurdles for novel vaccine administration technologies. In times of restricted healthcare budgets, pricing and manufacturing costs of novel vaccine administration systems need to be kept to a minimum. Only the careful selection of suitable indications will offer a route to commercial success.

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