Aptar Pharma and TFF Pharmaceuticals: Dry powder vaccines

Aptar Pharma, a world-leader in innovative drug delivery solutions and services and TFF Pharmaceuticals, a drug delivery and development company have united forces to develop and test the administration of dry powder vaccines. By combining Aptar Pharma’s intranasal Unidose Powder Nasal Spray System and TFF Pharmaceuticals Thin Film Freezing technology they aimed to develop a product that was both effective and simplified the administration process.

The Thin Film Freezing technology has the ability to transform medicines into dry powder creating more efficient, safe and stable drug delivery. Applying the technology to nasal sprays and developing an internasal vaccine has multiple advantages. One of the advantages to administering vaccines through the nasal passageway, is that it targets the first point of entry for particular pathogens which can reduce the spread of further infection. Moreover, in targeting the nasal mucosa there is potential to prevent disease transmission through building mucosal immunity.

By switching to a nasal powder vaccine, syringe disposal no longer becomes necessary. This reduces single-use pharmaceutical product waste and allows for the global distribution of a self-administered vaccine, thus removing the extreme cold from the supply chain and enabling access to regions and countries with limited infrastructure for refrigeration.

Glenn Mattes, President & CEO of TFF Pharmaceuticals said: “By combining our collective and proprietary expertise in drug development, device engineering and formulation technologies, we believe this collaboration has the potential to create ground-breaking advancements in the field of drug delivery. Intranasal dry powder vaccines could be a true game changer for people around the world.”

At the Vaccine Summit-2022, Aptar Pharma presented their research finding from their collaboration with TFF Pharmaceuticals and will present additional data at the World Vaccine & Immunotherapy Congress, from November 28 to December 1. The development of a nasal vaccine will change the way the global pharmaceutical community views vaccine administration, however, they must submit to feasibility testing, followed by a peer-reviewed publication before the process can undergo implementation.

We look forward to seeing the results on the dry nasal vaccine trials in the coming months.