Liquidia Technologies
today presented data at the National Foundation of Infectious Disease (NFID)
Annual Meeting which supports new insight into a technology that could provide
more safe and effective vaccines for a wide variety of diseases. Results of
the study show that the desired immune response elicited by a vaccine can be
enhanced up to 10-fold when the vaccine protein is linked to nano-particles
of a particular size and shape. The discovery may lead to a new generation of
vaccines that could provide faster immunity to disease and potentially minimize
the need for multiple vaccinations or "booster shots."
PRINT® particles mimicking the size and shape of bacteria may improve the safety and efficacy of vaccines.
“It has long been known that virus and bacteria come in a variety of
sizes and shapes and that the human
body responds very differently to each one of these disease causing agents,”
said Joseph DeSimone,
Founder of Liquidia Technologies and Chancellor’s Eminent Professor of
Chemistry at University of North
Carolina – Chapel Hill. “This data may help us better understand
how to use the characteristics of
naturally occurring pathogens to create vaccines that are more effective and
require less product
exposure for the patient.”
Current vaccination methods utilize weakened or deactivated pathogens (disease
causing agents) to elicit
an immune response in the body without the symptoms of the actual infection.
Subsequently, if a person
is exposed to others with that particular disease their immune system can quickly
respond and more
effectively fight off the infection. This study suggests that an even greater
immune response may be
generated when the same weakened pathogens are attached to extraordinarily small
particles that are
well tolerated by the body.
“The immune system is very sensitive to the size and shape of foreign
bodies introduced into the body,”
said Neal Fowler, CEO of Liquidia Technologies. “Having insight into the
role of these characteristics
when mounting an immune response is a very significant step toward finding safer
and more effective
ways of administering vaccines to patients.”
The particles used in this study were created using a proprietary method known
as PRINT®, which stands
for Particle Replication In Non-wetting Templates. The PRINT Platform leverages
the precision of microelectronics
to create rationally designed nanoparticles with absolute control over particle
size, shape,
composition and surface chemistry in a controlled and scalable manufacturing
process. In developing
particle technologies for vaccines, each of these variables can be optimized
for a specific immunogenic
response allowing for an unprecedented level of design control compared to other
delivery systems. In
addition to controlled co-delivery of antigens or other pharmacological agents
that can increase or aid
their effect, the PRINT platform allows the exploration of the impact of non-spherical
particle shapes on
biological response.