Scientists at Nova Bio-Pharma Technologies and the University of Oxford have invented a rectangular cartridge that can store vaccines without refrigeration.
Vaccines must be refrigerated between 4 °C to 8 °C to stay effective. This increased cost is between 14 to 20 percent (an average of $200 million for most countries).
In developing countries, where refrigeration and electricity are often scarce, vaccination is non-existent.
This new medical invention seals live vaccine viruses inside sugar. The trapped vaccines can be stored at temperatures of 45 C without any degradation for months.
The process mixes the live viruses with sucrose and trehalose. The solution is then dried on a plastic film that hardens into a sugar-glass cartridge.
The vaccine is immobilized and kept in suspended animation inside the sugar-glass. When needed the cartridge is simply screwed into a standard vaccine syringe for injection.
Sources: novalabs.co.uk;technologyreview.com
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