Breath-Mint Strip Inspires Drug-Delivery System

Biomedical engineering students at Johns Hopkins University developed a new drug-delivery system based on breath-mint strips. The new strips dissolve quickly on the tongue and release the drug into the small intestine. The first target? A rotavirus vaccine.

The novel drug-delivery system is needed because rotavirus is a common cause of severe diarrhea and vomiting in children, leading to about 600,000 deaths annually. Most of these occur in developing nations, where medical services to treat intestinal distress are not widely available. Rotavirus vaccine to prevent this illness is currently produced in a liquid or freeze-dried form that must be chilled for transport and storage, making it very expensive for use in impoverished areas. In addition, newborns sometimes spit out the liquid, a problem that is less likely to occur with a strip that sticks to and dissolves on the tongue in less than a minute.

Unlike the existing rotavirus vaccines, the strips require no refridgeration and are hoped to be cheaper to make, store, and transport. (Merck's vaccine RotaTeq costs $62.50 per dose, with three doses needed, for a total price of
$187.50 per vaccine; estimated prices for the in-development vaccine are not available. Read a recent safety concern.)

The idea for this new vaccine came from the private industry.

The idea originated last year at Aridis Pharmaceuticals, a San Jose, Calif., firm that possesses vaccine stabilization technologies and a rotavirus vaccine that is made stable at room temperatures. Seeking a product resembling breath-freshening strips to deliver the vaccine, Vu Truong, cofounder and chief scientific officer at Aridis, contacted [Hai Quan] Mao.
Truong earned a doctorate in pharmacology and molecular science from the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine and knew of Mao's expertise in biomaterials. Mao, an assistant professor of materials science and engineering in the university's Whiting School of Engineering, described the vaccine challenge to one of his undergraduate lab assistants, senior Christopher Yu, who became co-leader of the team that tackled the project.

Yu and six other students developed the new drug-delivery system over two semesters. While the prototype of the delivery system appears sound, it needs further refinements to "maintain the viability of the vaccine".

Many of the active ingredients in prescription drugs are absorbed through the small intestine, so dissolving strips may become a new trend in drug delivery.

Students Devise Oral Quick-Dissolve Strips for Rotavirus Vaccine [Headlines@Hopkins]