Democratizing Vaccines


Urgent need for innovation

Vaccines have changed the world and saved hundreds of millions of lives. But infectious diseases remain the second leading cause of death worldwide, disproportionately affecting children under the age of 5 and people in low-income countries. The World Health Organization estimates that 3 million people die each year from diseases that could have been prevented by vaccines. This points to an urgent need for innovation in vaccine delivery and administration technology.

Reducing the logistical challenges

An oral vaccine platform is the innovation the world needs now. iosBio’s OraPro platform could transform vaccine programs in developing countries, permitting the rapid and widespread distribution of lifesaving immunity. With no need for healthcare professionals, the cost savings would be significant – training and mobilizing healthcare workers can account for up to 25% of the cost of introducing a new vaccine. The practical challenges of transporting injectable vaccines that require consistent storage at cold or ultra-cold temperatures across countries that don’t have reliable electricity would be eliminated. Lastly, delivering oral vaccines leaves very little trace, whereas injectables generate huge amounts of biohazardous waste that developing countries don’t have the infrastructure to dispose of.

Opportunity

The market for oral vaccine technology in the developing world is therefore enormous. Oral vaccines could effect huge societal and economic change in poorer countries. For every dollar currently invested in vaccination in the world’s 94 lowest-income countries, $16 are saved in healthcare costs, lost wages and lost productivity due to illness and death. If we include broader benefits, like the value of people living healthier, longer lives and the long-term burden of disability, the net return increases to $44 per dollar invested. These values would increase dramatically if the cost of vaccination programs was reduced and their reach expanded.

Removal of the cold chain

In the developed world, the pressures on cost and the challenges of the cold chain are considerably less. But we are now seeing how the practical requirements of an injected vaccine restrict the rollout of national mass vaccination programs, even with the maximum amount of funding available. Every day spent under lockdown further damages the economy and people’s mental health. The UK rollout has been as successful as anyone might have hoped, yet it will still take several months to immunise the adult population. An oral vaccine could accomplish this is a few short weeks.

Why oral
vaccines?


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The team of doctors and scientists at iosBio believe that the next great leap forward in immunization will be oral delivery


Enabling the fastest and most cost-effective deployment of vaccines the world has ever seen. This is not just a huge leap forward from a humanitarian perspective, oral vaccine technology also represents a significant commercial opportunity.

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    As the coronavirus pandemic rages on around the world, scientists are working day and night to create safe and effective vaccines that will allow life to return to normal. Although great leaps forward have been made, we are already seeing the supply chain and logistical problems of injectable vaccines that require cold or ultra cold chain storage. And as further mutations of the virus continue to emerge, the ability to tweak and readminister vaccines becomes ever more crucial.

    iosBio has partnered with US pharmaceutical company ImmunityBio to create OraPro-Covid-19, deploying our ground-breaking oral vaccine delivery platform with the aim of creating a Covid-19 vaccine that can be sent by post and swallowed at home.

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    The global seasonal influenza market is forecast to be worth $4.3bn by 2025. This figure is unsurprising considering the enormous economic costs of flu each year.

    On average, the total estimated annual economic burden of influenza to the US healthcare system and society is $11.2 billion, comprising $3.2 billion in direct medical costs and $8 billion in indirect costs. The CDC (Centre for Disease Control and Prevention) recommends that every person from the age of six months onwards has a flu vaccine, but actual vaccination coverage hovers around 50%

    In the UK, six million working days are lost to seasonal influenza in an average winter, yet uptake amongst the under-65s has been steadily declining in recent years. Many cite difficulties with getting an appointment at their GP’s surgery, where the vast majority of flu jabs are still administered.

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    Zika virus disease is caused by a virus transmitted primarily by mosquitoes, as well as through sexual contact and from mother to fetus during pregnancy. Zika infection during pregnancy can cause infants to be born with microcephaly and other congenital malformations, and is also associated with other complications including preterm birth and miscarriage. An increased risk of neurologic complications is associated with Zika virus infection in adults and children, including Guillain-Barré syndrome, neuropathy and myelitis.

    From the 1960s to 1980s, rare sporadic cases of human infections were found across Africa and Asia, typically accompanied by mild illness. The first recorded outbreak of Zika virus disease was reported from the Island of Yap in Micronesia in 2007. This was followed by a large outbreak of Zika virus infection in French Polynesia in 2013 and other countries and territories in the Pacific. In March 2015, Brazil reported a large outbreak of rash illness, soon identified as Zika virus infection, and later that year confirmed to be associated with microcephaly and Guillain-Barré syndrome.

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