Needle-free vaccines going to trial in astounding Australian-led innovation

An Australian invention that delivers vaccines without a jab is ready for clinical trials. This is how you can help.

A tiny skin patch half the size of a postage stamp is about to be tested in Melbourne to see if it can safely deliver a needle-free vaccine for bird flu.

The Australian invention has tiny prongs that give a vaccine dose directly to immune cells below the skin surface.

The tiny skin patch delivers the vaccine jab-free to the immune cells below the skin surface. Image: Supplied.

If clinical trials are successful it could be an alternative to the traditional method of an injection into a muscle and may even offer a way to give multiple vaccines at the same time.

Potentially it could even deliver multiple vaccines needle-free to babies, helping to reduce the number required to protect children under the age of five.

Called High-Density Microarray Patch (HD-MAP) technology, it is being developed by Australian biotech company Vaxxas with studies funded by the US Government.

Vaxxas chief executive David Hoey. The company is helping to bring the Australian invention to market. Picture: John Gass

The company’s CEO David Hoey said global pandemic threats required the world’s health organisations to have better and more accessible vaccine delivery options.

Doherty Clinical Trials’ chief medical officer James McCarthy is leading the bird flu vaccine trial in Victoria.

He described the device as having microscopic prongs just visible to the human eye, with the vaccine coated on the end of each prong.

“The prongs are pushed into the skin with a simple device and, over two minutes, they deliver the vaccine into the tissue just under the skin,” Professor McCarthy said. “It stings a little, but is not as painful as using a needle and syringe.”

Doherty Clinical Trials’ chief medical officer Professor James McCarthy is leading the Victorian trial. Image: Supplied.

He said it was exciting technology that offered a lot of advantages globally including against a future pandemic where the technology could enable a faster and broader vaccination response.

“It is also being investigated to see if it can avoid the need for expensive and complex cold-chain delivery,” Professor McCarthy said.

“That’s the long-term possibility, that it could even be mailed to people to use in the home so that’s a great advantage.

“Vaxxas is also looking at putting more than one vaccine on these patches.

“So although the bird flu vaccine we’re testing at the moment is exciting, there will also be the possibility of combining different vaccines together eventually.”

Clinical trials in Queensland are already testing the skin patch as a vaccine for seasonal flu, Covid-19 and measles and rubella with “promising” results.

The device is half the size of a postage stamp and is being tested in Melbourne to deliver a vaccine for bird flu. Image: Supplied.

To join this trial at Doherty Clinical Trials participants must be aged between 18 and 50 years, in good health and available to visit its East Melbourne facility for nine visits over 13 months.

Volunteers will have a medical examination by doctors, including a physical examination, measuring vital signs and conducting blood tests.

The University of Melbourne subsidiary, Doherty Clinical Trials was established by the Doherty Institute to accelerate the development of novel medicines and vaccines through bespoke early phase clinical trial solutions.

For details of the trial email [e-mail] or call 1300 620 399.