Delivery company MonoSol Rx is collaborating with BiondVax Pharmaceuticals to develop an oral flu vaccine in a thin film that melts in the mouth in less than 20 seconds, creating a dose that could be stable enough to be mailed out to patients.
The collaboration will combine BiondVax's universal influenza vaccine, M-001, with MonoSol Rx's PharmFilm technology. PharmFilm is quick-dissolving and masks the taste of drugs. Globes reported that BiondVax's shares rose 15% on this news.
Flu vaccination is a huge market, and oral vaccines should improve compliance, particularly with small children or people who have needle phobias. It would also make administration easier in isolated communities, where film-based vaccines could be sent in the mail and handed out by people with limited or no medical training, or in influenza pandemics, where vaccines have to be distributed widely and quickly.
BiondVax Chief Scientific Officer Tamar Ben-Yedidia said to Globes: "The universality and immunogenicity of our universal influenza vaccine, M-001, has been demonstrated in animal models and in the clinic. Now that we are taking M-001 through the advanced stages of clinical development, it is the right time to explore the option of delivery by mouth, as this route is easier for most people."
Last month, MonoSol Rx announced development of MSRX-202, a single-dose combination of the migraine drug rizatriptan with the anti-nausea remedy ondansetron, which also uses the PharmFilm technology.
- check out the article in Globes