New Federal Contract: Micron and the CDC Advance a Needle-Free Skin-Delivered Rotavirus Vaccine
Micron Biomedical, a clinical-stage biotechnology company based in Atlanta, announced on October 21 that it has signed a vaccine development agreement with the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to advance a novel live-attenuated rotavirus vaccine. Unlike current oral vaccines, the candidate is delivered through the skin using the company's microarray patch technology, without needles. The company said the agreement is the latest in a series of federal collaborations, and that the vaccine candidate was developed by the CDC.
Steven Damon, chief executive officer of Micron Biomedical, said the company's longstanding collaboration with the United States government is grounded in a shared goal of expanding the range of tools available to protect and treat children and adults from deadly diseases and infections through microarray vaccines and therapies that overcome biological and logistical obstacles to global health. He called the federal contract a significant milestone for children at risk of diarrhea-related deaths, and a recognition of the urgent demand for approaches that address the needs of hard-to-reach populations affected by health care deserts, needle phobia and infrastructure shortages.
According to figures cited in the announcement, rotavirus is the leading cause of death from diarrhea in children under five years old worldwide, claiming about 200,000 lives annually. Current oral rotavirus vaccines are highly effective in developed nations, but in low- and middle-income countries malnutrition and gut coinfections are thought to contribute to significantly lower efficacy. The company hopes a more thermostable, skin-delivered format can bypass some cold-chain, injection and gut-absorption limits and reach populations that are harder to serve.
Micron describes itself as a developer of next-generation thermostable vaccines and therapeutics, and says its microarray platform is designed so vaccines can be distributed and used in settings with limited professional staff and infrastructure. Further development steps under the agreement will be set out in later announcements by the company and the CDC. The announcement, issued from Atlanta on October 21, did not describe the candidate as approved for use; it is a development-stage vaccine, and the work under the agreement is aimed at advancing it toward later testing and use.
Published by GSM · USA (original Chinese edition)
Photo: 轮状病毒颗粒三维重建图（资料图）· 维基共享资源，CC BY 3.0
