Researchers in Australia have developed a patch that, according to studies, fights the omicron variant of the coronavirus better than a vaccine.
Frankfurt – The corona pandemic is still an issue in Germany and worldwide. The number of cases remains at a high level. Various omicron variants currently determine the course of infection. Corona vaccines are considered the most effective weapon in the fight against the pandemic.
Researchers from Australia’s University of Queensland have developed a patch and conducted studies in collaboration with the Brisbane-based biotechnology company Vaxxas. The vaccine patch should cause an efficient and long-lasting immune response against corona.
Corona study: vaccine via a patch with microneedles
The technology start-up company Vaxxas has long been working on improving the effectiveness of vaccines by applying the antigen to the skin. This is accomplished using a microarray patch. It is a plaster with numerous small microneedles. In October 2021, the researchers led by Dr. Christopher McMillan from the School of Chemistry and Molecular Biosciences at the University of Queensland in Australia, that the application of a corona vaccine using such a patch can boost the immune response.
The results were published in a paper in the journal Science . According to the results of the Australian scientists, the procedure of the study has proven to be extremely effective in neutralizing coronavirus variants.
Vaccination by plaster should also protect against corona variants
In another study, which was published in July 2022 in the journal Vaccine , the Australian research team also tested in a mouse model whether the vaccination strategy using a patch also protects against the newly emerged worrying variants of the coronavirus. The vaccine Hexapro was used using the so-called HD-MAP technology (High-Density Microarray Patch). The results show that the use of the microarray patch with the Hexapro vaccine elicited a strong neutralizing antibody response against all variants.
A review article published in May 2022 in the journal Pharmaceutics deals with the diverse possibilities of microneedle technology. These therefore have a number of advantages over conventional immunization methods, because this type of vaccination is painless and triggers a strong immune reaction. The microneedles could precisely deliver the vaccine to the layers of skin rich in immune cells. According to McMillan, vaccination via a patch is about 11 times more effective in controlling the omicron variant than the same vaccine administered via a needle. Another advantage of the patch is that it does not need to be stored in a cold chain. (hg)
