New vaccine technique 'may prevent measles'

Though measles does not affect as many people as it used to, over ten million people a year still suffer from the condition.

Of this number, an average of 197,000 sufferers die, so healthcare experts are constantly striving to find the best way of inoculating people against the condition.

Now, research set to be presented at the 2009 American Association of Pharmaceutical Scientists' Annual Meeting and Exposition is to reveal new methods for delivering measles vaccines that could potentially reduce costs and improve safety.

The process was devised at the University of Colorado, where specialists say that it may potentially save the lives of children across the globe.

Robert Sievers, one of the study's principal investigators, told health cover holders that the new process may make the vaccine easier to store and transport, reducing costs substantially.

"Vaccination has become controversial in some international communities which believe vaccines might be hazardous. However, in many parts of the world, the disease itself is a serious hazard, killing hundreds of thousands of children each year," he explained.

Dr Sievers told private health insurance holders that the new method involves the patient inhaling a fine powder rather than having to be immunised through a needle.

So far the aerosol vaccine has been proved effective in test animals and human trials are expected to begin next year in India, where more than half of the world's measles cases occur.

Researchers from Aridis Pharmaceuticals have also been working to develop a room temperature stable measles formulation that can be easily inhaled using cost-effective dry-powder inhalers.

Dr Satoshi Ohtake, the principal investigator on this study, stated: "[It] offers hope for developing countries that desperately need more stable and efficient vaccination methods. This new method could potentially offer safer, more affordable and effective treatments to patients that need them the most."

By James McCann

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