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It may soon be possible to swallow vaccines in a tablet, rather than having painful injections, thanks to research by Cambridge pharmaceutical scientists. Researchers from the University of Cambridge have completed a study on ways to coat live bacterial vaccines so they can be taken orally - and will present their findings at the inaugural Academy of Pharmaceutical Sciences Conference - UK PharmSci 2010 - The Science of Medicine, September 1-3. 

Most vaccines are injected, which can be painful and distressing for patients. Traditional vaccines also need to be refrigerated while they are shipped and are a challenge to manufacture. 

The Cambridge team focused on the production, stabilisation and delivery of live bacteria vaccines. They invented a formulation that coats the vaccine to prevent it being destroyed by bile in the intestines after it is swallowed, ensuring there is optimum release and uptake by the body. Different live bacterial vaccine strains can be administered using this technology, including vaccines against important infections such as typhoid fever, anthrax and influenza. 

The research was conducted by Dr Alexander Edwards, now based at the Reading School of Pharmacy, and led by Professor Nigel Slater at the University of Cambridge Department of Chemical Engineering and Biotechnology.

"Live bacterial vaccines offer us the potential to be taken orally, to be stabilised and transported without the need for refrigeration and to be manufactured quickly and cheaply," Dr Edwards said.