Transportation and Supply Chain

Tarit Mukhopadhyay of University College London in the United Kingdom will develop a manufacturing platform to reduce the production costs of recombinant protein vaccines. Current manufacturing procedures involve serial batch operations in large complex facilities requiring highly trained operators and extensive testing and are inefficient and costly. They will build a platform that integrates and automates key steps to reduce labor costs and capital expenditure and improves product design and control procedures to reduce quality control requirements.

Robert Garcea of the University of Colorado Boulder in the U.S. will develop a method to manufacture ultrastable vaccines by coating them with nanoparticles so that multiple doses can be delivered in a single injection to reduce the costs associated with repeat immunizations and vaccine refrigeration. They have developed a method to heat-stabilize vaccines for transport and storage that involves controlled freeze-drying of antigens with adjuvants embedded in glassy organic matrices.

Nithya Ramanathan from Nexleaf Analytics in the U.S. will develop a low-cost mobile phone-based device to remotely monitor the temperature of refrigerated units that store and transport temperature-sensitive vaccines and drugs. In Phase I, they produced and tested a simple prototype temperature-sensing device and associated software that enables the wireless uploading of accurate temperature data for real-time monitoring, along with the ability to send SMS alerts upon reaching critical temperatures.

Nancy Muller from PATH in the U.S. will develop approaches to prevent freezing and thereby destruction of vaccines during cold chain transport. Maintaining vaccines below 8°C while preventing freezing is particularly challenging during their transport in developing countries. In Phase I they designed low-cost liners containing engineered phase change materials that fit existing vaccine carriers and provide a thermal buffer between the vaccines and standard ice-packs.

Tarit Mukhopadhyay of University College London in the United Kingdom and Stephen Ward of Stabilitech are working to apply a new liquid stabilizing technology to create thermostable vaccines that can withstand extremes of temperature and eliminate the need for a cold chain.

Dawn Smith of Temptime Corporation in the U.S. will develop a low-cost vial-level indicator device that provides a signal not only when vaccines have had brief but damaging exposure to high temperatures, but also have reached a cumulative heat exposure threshold. The integrated device would provide health care workers a comprehensive indication as to whether a vaccine has been damaged by heat and should therefore not be used.

Yoav Eichen of Freshpoint Holdings SA in Switzerland will explore new technologies for use in the development of a printable label for vaccine vials to indicate when they have been exposed to temperatures below a set threshold, which would compromise activity. The label will be printed using low-end, low-cost printing techniques and will be compatible with other printed temperature indicators.

Lauren Braun of Alma Sana Inc. in the U.S. will develop and field test in Peru a simple, inexpensive immunization tracking bracelet that can be worn by babies and that uses numbers and symbols instead of written instructions to track the types and dates of vaccinations required. This bracelet will help remind resource-poor Peruvian mothers of the dates of their babies' childhood vaccination appointments, remind the healthcare workers which vaccines are needed, and increase the efficiency and rate of childhood vaccination.

Seung M. You of the University of Texas at Arlington in the U.S. will develop and test an aluminum wicking medium that can be used in an evaporative, passive- cooling refrigeration system for vaccine storage and delivery in dry climates. The wicking medium will be lightweight, low-cost, and include micro- and nano-scale pores for high wickability over a large surface area, providing sustained water evaporation to keep vaccines cool.

Ruth Stringer and a team at Health Care Without Harm in the U.S., and colleagues at the Health Care Foundation Nepal, will design and test a decision-making tool that compares the costs, benefits, and environmental impacts of centralized autoclaving, recycling, and/or disposing of various types of conventional and safety syringes. This tool will enable decision makers to choose the most economical and sustainable medical waste management strategy.