Delivering vaccines to the people who need them most

Abstract

Thanks to the Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunization (GAVI), the Vaccine Fund and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the global health community has made enormous progress in providing already existing vaccines to developing countries. However, there still exists a gap to develop vaccines for which there is no market in the Western world, owing to low economic incentives for the private sector to justify the investments necessary for vaccine development. In many cases, industry has the technologies, but lacks the impetus to direct resources to develop these vaccine products. The present emergency with the Ebola vaccine provides us an excellent example where a vaccine was feasible several years ago, but the global health community waited for a humanitarian disaster to direct efforts and resources to develop this vaccine. In the beginning of 2015, the first large-scale trials of two experimental vaccines against Ebola virus disease have begun in West Africa. During the past few years, several institutions have dedicated efforts to the development of vaccines against diseases present only in low-income countries. These include the International Vaccine Institute, the Novartis Vaccines Institute for Global Health, the Hilleman Institute, the Sabin Vaccine Institute and the Infectious Disease Research Institute. Nevertheless, solving this problem requires a more significant global effort than that currently invested. These efforts include a clear policy, global coordination of funds dedicated to the development of neglected disease and an agreement on regulatory strategies and incentives for the private sector.

Nanomedicines for the Delivery of Biologics

“…Adjuvants are added to enhance the immune response to the vaccine [16]. Barocchi et al [17] reviewed emerging technologies for the development of vaccines from the 1930s to the present day; most of the vaccines that have been in clinical trials since 2014 have used adjuvants [18]. In addition to the use of adjuvants, various nanoparticle delivery approaches have also been used to further enhance the immunogenic response [19].…”

Biological challenges to effective vaccines in the developing world

“…The evolution of vaccinology from the empirical approaches of the 1930s towards a new paradigm based on high-throughput technologies is characterized in the final article from Barocchi & Rappuoli [47]. This article goes beyond a discussion of recent scientific challenges and successes in vaccine development to consider important economic issues, in particular the failure of the market to drive vaccine development for infectious diseases in the developing world.…”

Chemical Modification of Chitosan for Efficient Vaccine Delivery

“…Generally, existing vaccines can be divided into two broad groups: living and non-living vaccines [ 12 ]. Vaccines can be further divided into four categories: (i) vaccines containing microorganisms that are artificially inactivated by chemicals or heating; (ii) vaccines containing microorganisms that have undergone attenuated culture or directly use relevant immunological substances; (iii) vaccines derived from inactivated toxic compounds, rather than microorganisms, which are referred to as toxoid-based vaccines; and (iv) subunit vaccines, which use a purified fragment of the pathogens that is able to create an immune response [ 13 ]. Moreover, a quantity of innovative bacterial vaccines is also in development and in use [ 13 , 14 ].…”

“…Vaccines can be further divided into four categories: (i) vaccines containing microorganisms that are artificially inactivated by chemicals or heating; (ii) vaccines containing microorganisms that have undergone attenuated culture or directly use relevant immunological substances; (iii) vaccines derived from inactivated toxic compounds, rather than microorganisms, which are referred to as toxoid-based vaccines; and (iv) subunit vaccines, which use a purified fragment of the pathogens that is able to create an immune response [ 13 ]. Moreover, a quantity of innovative bacterial vaccines is also in development and in use [ 13 , 14 ]. Over the past two decades, promising DNA vaccine technology, offering simplicity of preparation, and rapid and relatively inexpensive mass production, has become an alternative to traditional vaccines, and has continued to evolve.…”