The Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA) is calling on vaccine developers and patch makers to partner and accelerate new vaccine technologies.
Through the Patch Forward Prize, BARDA is incentivizing collaboration between vaccine and patch developers and providing resources to advance these combination products into Phase I clinical trials, offering tangible incentives to overcome barriers to development.
By supporting the first effective demonstrations of patch-based RNA vaccines in humans, the prize will accelerate breakthroughs in vaccine technology while enhancing America’s readiness, resilience, and access to effective medical countermeasures.
The Patch Forward Prize will award $50 million across three stages. The Concept Stage will award up to $8 million, with up to four winners receiving $2 million each.
The concept papers are expected to address key considerations for product development and formulation, regulatory review and approval, preclinical and clinical evaluation, and manufacturing processes to advance a safe, tolerable, and immunogenic patch-based RNA vaccine. The vaccine product must include at least one of the following indications: COVID-19, trivalent or quadrivalent seasonal influenza, and/or pandemic influenza A/H5N1.
Access resources to learn more about patch-based RNA vaccine development, including the technologies, product development, and regulatory requirements.
A virtual Information Session on the Patch Forward Prize challenge will be held 18 April 2024. In addition, the Patch Forward Prize team is attending the World Vaccine Congress in Washington, D.C. from April 1 to April 3.
Concept papers are due by October 3, 2024. Concept-Stage prize winners will be announced by the end of 2024.
Source: BARDA
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A dissolving microneedle patch for flu vaccination
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Study investigated the physicochemical properties of influenza-antigen-coated microneedle (Influenza MN) and the skin irritation, acute toxicity, and specific antibody production in vivo after applying the coated microneedles to rat skin. (Journal of Pharmaceutical Investigation)
This study is the first to describe the safety and immunogenicity of a nanoporous microneedle array for SARS-CoV-2 vaccination with the mRNA-1273 vaccine in healthy participants as a booster vaccination. Nanoporous microneedle array for SARS-CoV-2 vaccination with 20 µg mRNA-1273 was safe but failed to induce an anamnestic antibody response, which is probably due to the used vaccine loading technique resulting in a very low amount of loaded vaccine on the microneedle tips. (Virus Research)
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