Public Funding for Star Syringe Limited

Awaiting Public Project Summary

Most vaccines, therapies and diagnostics are currently delivered by intramuscular or subcutaneous and intravenous route mainly using a standard needle and syringe. This is despite the fact that the dermis and epidermis of human skin are the richest in antigenpresenting cells and therefore offer the prospect of attaining the same clinical outcome via a reduced dose. Clinical trials investigating IntraDermal Delivery (IDD) and its potential for reducing the dose required (“dose-sparing”), have clearly demonstrated its effectiveness. The dose-sparing that can be achieved depends on the particular vaccine, therapy or diagnostic but typically allows the dose to be reduced to a fifth. This would be very beneficial to many applications such as immunization programmes, particularly in resource-poor settings, by reducing the per-injection cost (including transport and storage) of vaccines. The possibility of dose-sparing is also crucially important in pandemic situations when vaccine supply is always limited. Historically the IntraDermal (ID) route is only used for the administration of specific vaccines that would be dangerous if delivered by other means, such as BCG and rabies vaccines. This is because an ID injection requires a very high level of skill and expertise to be able to deliver the vaccine totally within the skin. Considerable research has gone into creating a device to make the technique easier, but there is currently no completely satisfactory IDD device. “Star ID” is a novel syringe design for ID injection that has a low component count, is cheap to manufacture, can be filled at patient side from standard vaccine vials and has an easy to use, simple, action with a 90 degree injection angle. This combination places the Star ID concept in a totally unique position. IDD of vaccines, therapies and diagnostics has great potential and many possible applications if an effective delivery device is made available.