PATH recently entered into a collaboration agreement with Liquidia Technologies (PDF) to conduct preclinical proof-of-concept studies on a next-generation pneumococcal vaccine. The strategy is to use Liquidia’s particle technology called PRINT (Particle Replication in Non-Wetting Templates) to bring together pneumococcal proteins and polysaccharides in a way that could potentially allow for broadened efficacy and manufacturing efficiencies, helping to ease vaccine accessibility. Overall, the partnership supports the efforts of PATH’s pneumococcal vaccine project to improve the availability and affordability of pneumococcal vaccines for low-resource countries where the need is greatest.

Through a new collaboration with the US National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), PATH’s respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) vaccine project and a team led by Dr. Barney Graham of NIAID’s Vaccine Research Center, are working to optimize a standardized platform for the RSV neutralization assay. The goal is to improve the accuracy, reproducibility, and efficiency of measuring neutralizing antibody responses. This new platform, which will be made available to the scientific community, will be an important step toward providing vaccine developers a method to uniformly assess and compare neutralizing antibody as a correlate of protection across RSV vaccine candidates.

PATH’s vaccine technologies group has been exploring the field of devices for the packaging and delivery of oral rotavirus vaccines, resulting in a new toolkit for manufacturers developing the bovine-human reassortant vaccine (BRV). The toolkit allows manufacturers to compare and contrast certain characteristics when evaluating and then selecting future packaging and presentation combinations for different populations. PATH’s rotavirus vaccine development project supports several emerging-country manufacturers actively developing the BRV through a “shared technology platform,” featuring a host of technologies, training, methodologies, and material. PATH is continuing this work with a health worker assessment study beginning in early 2012, which will further evaluate the most promising delivery device options.

In other news, the World Health Organization (WHO) announced in December 2011 the “suspension of supply through the United Nations of hepatitis B vaccine (Revac-B+) manufactured by Bharat Biotech International, Ltd. (BBIL) and termination of prequalification procedures for current applications for other vaccines from BBIL,” based on a site audit WHO conducted in September 2011. PATH is working in partnership with BBIL on the Phase 3 efficacy trial of its rotavirus vaccine candidate, 116E. The 116E vaccine was not involved in the WHO audit, and the clinical trial has not been affected by this announcement.

PATH’s vaccine development program is working to accelerate the development of innovative, safe, effective, and affordable vaccines against the leading causes of childhood deaths in the developing world, pneumonia (pneumococcal disease) and diarrheal disease (rotavirus, Shigella, and enterotoxigenic Escherichia coli), as well as new vaccines for the global population against influenza, meningitis, polio, and respiratory syncytial virus. PATH is also partnering on vaccine development through its Malaria Vaccine Initiative and the Meningitis Vaccine Project. Additionally, PATH works to ensure the worldwide availability of vaccines through its vaccine access and delivery program. The work of the vaccine development program is currently supported by grants from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the Research Council of Norway, the US Department of Health and Human Services, and the United Kingdom’s Department for International Development. Some projects within the vaccine development program are funded by PATH Vaccine Solutions.

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