Turn Therapeutics Achieves 24-Hour Stability for Intranasal Live Vaccine at Room Temperature
Turn Therapeutics has made a groundbreaking achievement in vaccine preservation by successfully maintaining the viability of a live vaccine for 24 hours at room temperature using its innovative oil suspension technology. This milestone marks a major advancement in the world of vaccine storage, transport, and distribution, particularly for regions with limited infrastructure for maintaining the cold chain, which is essential for vaccines that require refrigeration or deep freezing.
The oil suspension technology developed by Turn Therapeutics stabilizes the vaccine, particularly those utilizing a well-known vaccine vector, within a viscous oil delivery system. This breakthrough challenges the traditional understanding that lipid carriers destabilize or destroy lipid-enveloped vaccines, a theory that has long persisted in the scientific community. According to Bradley Burnam, the CEO of Turn Therapeutics and the inventor of the oil suspension technology, “This discovery challenges the longstanding belief that lipid carriers inevitably destabilize or destroy lipid-enveloped vaccines. As we’ve heard before, we were told this couldn’t be done. Now, multiple studies demonstrate that, at least in our liquid-in-oil system, that’s not universally true.”
Understanding Live Vaccines and Their Challenges
Live vaccines contain a weakened or attenuated version of the virus they are designed to protect against. While these vaccines are highly effective in stimulating the immune system, they come with a unique set of challenges in terms of storage and transport. Since live vaccines typically require refrigeration or deep freezing to maintain their potency, they present a logistical hurdle for widespread distribution, especially to remote or rural areas where cold storage is not readily available.
Generally, the refrigeration window for live vaccines lasts only three to five days after they are removed from cold storage. Once taken out of the refrigerator, these vaccines must be used within a few hours to ensure their effectiveness. If they are left at room temperature for longer than the prescribed time, their potency is compromised. This short shelf life and the need for precise temperature control make it difficult, if not impossible, to transport and administer vaccines to areas that lack the necessary infrastructure to maintain the cold chain.
Turn Therapeutics’ Breakthrough
Turn Therapeutics tackled this challenge by testing its oil suspension technology with a live vaccine that, in its standard liquid form, is stable for only four hours at room temperature. The company applied its multi-step suspension process to encase the vaccine in an oil-based carrier, which not only preserved the vaccine’s viability but also extended its stability at room temperature for up to 24 hours. This represents a significant leap forward in vaccine storage technology, as it dramatically extends the usable window for live vaccines and eliminates the need for immediate refrigeration.
The results of this test were remarkable. In its liquid form, the vaccine would have quickly lost its potency after just a few hours at room temperature. However, by suspending the vaccine in the oil-based carrier, Turn Therapeutics was able to maintain its stability for a full 24 hours, which opens up new possibilities for vaccine distribution and storage, particularly in regions with inadequate cold storage capabilities.
The Potential Implications for Global Health
The implications of this discovery are far-reaching. A key area of interest for Turn Therapeutics is the development of needle-free, intranasal vaccines that could benefit from this technology. These vaccines would not only be easier to distribute and administer but could also withstand transport and storage under less controlled conditions, making them ideal for use in remote or underdeveloped areas.
In addition to the potential for needle-free vaccines, Turn Therapeutics is also studying how its oil suspension technology can extend the shelf life of vaccines even further at room temperature. A study is currently underway to explore just how long the suspension technology can maintain vaccine viability without refrigeration. The goal is to create a delivery system that can maintain the vaccine’s effectiveness over extended periods and under various environmental conditions.
Following the completion of this study, Turn Therapeutics plans to conduct a comprehensive, real-world simulation. This simulation will evaluate the performance of the oil suspension technology under a variety of conditions, including both refrigerated and room-temperature environments. By conducting these tests, the company hopes to develop a robust thermostable delivery system that will drastically reduce, or even eliminate, the need for deep freezers and cold storage facilities. This would make it easier to distribute vaccines to areas where refrigeration infrastructure is lacking.
The Future of Vaccine Distribution
If successful, this technology has the potential to revolutionize the way vaccines are distributed and administered worldwide. According to Burnam, “As it stands, deep freeze requirements and short stability windows render many life-saving vaccines inaccessible to remote regions.” The oil suspension technology developed by Turn Therapeutics has the potential to overcome these barriers and make vaccines more accessible to populations that are currently underserved by traditional cold chain systems.
In addition to global health initiatives, this technology could also be a game-changer for military deployments and rapid outbreak responses. During health crises or emergency situations, vaccines must often be distributed quickly to large numbers of people. The ability to store and transport vaccines without the need for stringent temperature controls could greatly accelerate these efforts and reduce logistical challenges.
Moving Toward a More Equitable Future
One of the most significant impacts of Turn Therapeutics’ work is its potential to address the inequities in vaccine access that exist around the world. Developing countries and remote regions often struggle to obtain life-saving vaccines due to the complexities and costs associated with maintaining the cold chain. By making it possible to store and transport vaccines without relying on deep-freeze conditions, Turn Therapeutics is working toward a future where access to vaccines and other therapeutics is not hindered by logistical challenges.
The oil suspension technology could also have applications beyond vaccines. In theory, the same principles could be applied to other biologic drugs that require cold storage, such as certain monoclonal antibodies or gene therapies. If these drugs could be stabilized in a similar manner, it would dramatically expand access to life-saving treatments in low-resource settings.
Challenges and Future Developments
While the potential benefits of this technology are clear, there are still several hurdles to overcome. One of the challenges is ensuring that the oil suspension technology can be scaled up to accommodate large quantities of vaccines for mass distribution. Additionally, the safety and efficacy of vaccines stored using this technology must be rigorously tested to ensure that they meet the same standards as traditionally stored vaccines.
Turn Therapeutics is aware of these challenges and is actively working to address them. In the coming months, the company plans to continue its research and development efforts, focusing on improving the stability of vaccines and exploring new ways to optimize the oil suspension process. By doing so, Turn Therapeutics hopes to bring this technology to market and make it available to health organizations around the world.
