"A vaccine patch, assuming it is freeze dried, would not require refrigeration and would be easily tranported - making it far less cheaper to deliver to third world countries."
The "Nanopatch" doesn't require refrigeration fyi.
You may recall the the following "Nanopatch" development program at the UQ grabbing international headlines earlier this year and although most here assumed this program has nothing to do with OBJ's technology I still beg to differ for a number of valid reasons.
I do agree with Surges that our Vaccine patch program should be more advanced than this one however there were a couple of holes in this Nanopatch story which leads me to believe there is more "undisclosed" information than what had been provided to the media.
1) Dr Mark Kendall was highlighted as the sole inventor of this patch when in fact ALL the scientific papers published on the Nanopatch also cite both co-authors Ian Frazer and Prof Michael Roberts.
2) Prof Fraser from the University of Queensland mysteriously left OBJ in 2008 soon after the establishment of OBJ's confidential vaccine program commenced at the University of Queensland. He was quoted in an OBJ announcement as saying that his services were no longer required at OBJ and they had nothing for him to do? Perhaps that's because the OBJ vaccine program moved to Prof Frazer's and Co's labs in Queensland?
3) Prof Michael Roberts list of current projects at the University of Queensland lists both the Australian Research Council (ARC) and OBJ Limited as funding collaborators from 2008 to 2011 - Coincidence perhaps? ___
4) The following reference to Intra-dermal delivery of vaccines from an OBJ announcement suggests that OBJ have already been working in the area of micro-needle technology as well as their own platform of transdermal technologies for years now. (regardless of what OBJ/management wish not to disclose to s/holders through email correspondence or announcements)
June 2005 OBJ receives approval for Vaccine and Anti-body drug patch trials
OBJ Limited (OBJ) is pleased to announce that it has received Ethics Committee approval to commence animal trials to investigate the efficacy of its Dermaportation drug delivery technology in the development of a Vaccine and Anti-body drug patch.
The approval provides OBJ with the ability to trial its technology as a means of delivering a number of key vaccines and anti-bodies through the skin, rather than by injection, as is currently the case.
Intra-dermal delivery of vaccines has been shown to be up to 6 times more efficient than intra-muscular injections. This would allow more people to be immunised using current vaccine stocks or less vaccine being needed by an individual to create the same immunological response. ___
August 2007 - OBJ ANNOUNCES COMMENCEMENT OF VACCINE PROJECT AND KEY APPOINTMENTS
"The program will be managed and supervised by a highly experienced scientific team and will draw upon the world-class facilities of the University of Queensland." ___
The only question remaining imo is, wouldn't it be a conflict of interest for OBJ to be funding and collaborating with one of the developers and scientists working on the Nanopatch product if it was not related to one of our own developments?
Eureka Prize for Nanopatch research team
"It takes more than just one person to develop a scientific breakthrough - or claim the most prestigious award in Australian science.
Just ask Australian Institute for Bioengineering and Nanotechnology Professor Mark Kendall, who was last night awarded the Eureka Prize for Research by an Interdisciplinary Team. Professor Kendall and his AIBN team have worked with engineers, mathematicians, material scientists and immunologists from three other institutes on the needle-free vaccine delivery device, the Nanopatch.
The research has involved input from laboratories of cervical cancer vaccine inventor Professor Ian Frazer, the Translational Research Institute at Brisbane's Princess Alexandra Hospital; Professor Michael Roberts, Director of the Therapeutics Research Unit at The University of Queensland's School of Medicine; and the University of Melbourne's Professor Lorena Brown from the Department of Immunology and Microbiology.
The $10,000 Eureka Prize for Excellence in Research by an Interdisciplinary Team is awarded to an Australian research partnership, group or team for a groundbreaking research outcome that has involved collaboration and integration between researchers from two or more unrelated disciplines. It is sponsored by the Australian Research Council.
AIBN is a multi-disciplinary research institute bringing together world-class researchers in bioengineering and nanotechnology, working at the interface of biological, chemical and physical science to alleviate problems in human health and environmental issues.
On another note to give us an idea of how advanced some of our other programs might be it's worth looking back through some of the old announcements before everything started disappearing into confidentiality mode imo:
18 March 2005 - Presentation - Phase 1 Now Complete/Phase 2 Active
Phase 1 Independent testing facilities used during Phase 1 Curtin University - WABRI
Phase 2 Independent testing facilities available for Phase 2 Curtin University - WABRI Murdoch University Harvard Medical School University Of Miami Nanyang University of Technology Tan Tock Seng Hospital Royal Perth Hospital Fremantle Hospital University of WA Proteomics Cochrane Science ___
Plently of clues for who some of our "targeted partners" might be offered in some of our earlier announcements related to other trials imo ;)
December 2006 - OBJ REDUCES TIME TO ONSET IN SUCCESSFUL DOUBLE BLIND HUMAN CLINICAL TRIAL
Data from Volunteer G007 suggests that it may be possible to obtain Dermaportation enhanced loss of sensation with Ametop with a 15 min administration period, a significantly shorter period than that currently recommended by the manufacturer (30-45 min: Smith & Nephew product literature).
OBJ Price at posting:
2.3¢ Sentiment: LT Buy Disclosure: Held
(20min delay)