Effects of Vaccines Enhanced, Boosters Needed?

FOR RELEASE: (Print and Broadcast) Sun., April 13, 2 p.m., PDT
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EFFECTS OF VACCINES ENHANCED -- NO MORE BOOSTER SHOTS?

Initial and follow-up immunizations can now be given in single injection

SAN FRANCISCO, April 13 -- Many immunizations require three or more injections over a period of several months, or even years, in order to be effective. But getting the patient to come back for the later treatments is often difficult, especially in developing countries. That problem may now have been eliminated, according to a paper to presented here today at the American Chemical Society's 213th national meeting. Dr. Jeffrey L. Cleland and his colleagues at Genentech in San Francisco say they are the first to develop an alternative to current vaccination practices by providing all the needed immunizations in a single shot.

The Genentech group encapsulated the active part of the vaccine--called an antigen--in microspheres made of the same materials used in biodegradable sutures. The microspheres provide a pulsed timed release of antigen as the polymer coating degrades, mimicking the effect of an original injection and subsequent booster shots. Cleland says a single injection of the microspheres has been demonstrated in animal models of vaccine antigens for AIDS and malaria to invoke equivalent or greater immune responses than repeated immunizations.

Cleland believes that this technology will be broadly applicable to other vaccine formulations such as tetanus, diphtheria, herpes, and hepatitis. "Overall," he says, "application of this technology to vaccines will result in a broader immunization of the general public in both developed and developing countries by increasing patient compliance."

BIOT 17 will be presented at 1:50 p.m., Sun., April 13, in Rooms 200-212, Mezzanine Level, Moscone Center. The national meeting of the American Chemical Society will be held in San Francisco April 13-17. This paper is among the 7,700 presentations that will be made.

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The American Chemical Society, founded in 1876, is the world's largest scientific society, with more than 151,000 members.