Technology Keeps Vaccines Cool

By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

Filed at 12:02 p.m. ET

CENTERVILLE, Ohio (AP) -- The same technology that keeps takeout pizza hot is being used to keep vaccines cool, bringing increased demand for the refrigeration units since the East Coast terrorist attacks.

``Everybody is suddenly extremely aware of chemical and biological warfare,'' said Chris Meyer, a director for Energy Storage Technologies Inc. ``That's what we're responding to now.''

The company produces refrigerators that are tightly insulated and have pumps that keep temperatures to within a few degrees -- essential to preserve anthrax vaccine. It also makes a portable cooler with a wax-based liquid that keeps the vaccines cool without freezing them. The same liquid is used to keep pizzas hot through a reverse process.

The 110-pound refrigerators, which are usually sold along with the cooler as one system, have been in production for about two years. The surge in demand since the Sept. 11 attacks has forced the company to increase its production work force from 10 to 18 employees and begin eight-hour overtime shifts on Saturdays. Production is expected to increase from a few units a week to 40.

The company's one-story, brick factory connects to other businesses at a modern industrial park in this city 10 miles south of Dayton. Inside, refrigerators are lined up like giant marshmallows. The whine of saws cutting insulation fills the air.

The Centers for Disease Control has ordered 286 units to store anthrax vaccines at various places around the nation for civil defense, Meyer said.

Company President Lloyd Huff said conventional refrigerators do not have the appropriate temperature control for vaccines and are vulnerable to power outages.

``As soon as you get into some sort of threatening situation, there's a strong likelihood you won't have power,'' he said.

Anthrax vaccines must be stored between 36 degrees and 46 degrees. If electrical power fails, the refrigerator has a battery that can maintain the temperature for up to four days.

Energy Storage Technologies was contacted four years ago by the Army, which was looking into vaccinating troops for anthrax. Meyer said some of the Army vaccines had gone bad because they were not properly refrigerated.

The Army ordered some prototype systems from Energy Storage and tested them. It then bought 40 units and placed them around the world.

More orders followed.

The only American manufacturer of the anthrax vaccine, BioPort Inc. of Lansing, Mich., has yet to win approval from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to ship the vaccine. The FDA was scheduled to inspect BioPort in mid-December.

If the FDA approves distribution, the vaccine will likely go to troops and others at risk for anthrax exposure, including law enforcement and postal workers.

Huff said he expects business to increase if approval is granted.

The refrigerator sells for $3,500, the cooler $184. Energy Storage projects sales of $10 million through 2002. That compares to sales of between $3 million and $4 million in 2000 and 2001.

Huff said the refrigeration systems can also be used by underdeveloped countries to preserve vaccines for smallpox, polio and other diseases.

One of the biggest challenges is to make sure the ``cold chain'' remains unbroken. Vaccines must be kept within certain temperatures from the time they are manufactured to when they are transported and used for inoculations.

``Health-care workers oftentimes will walk several hours carrying vaccines with them that have to be kept cold,'' said Melinda Moree, senior business development officer for the Seattle-based Program for Appropriate Technology in Health.

PATH provides technical assistance to the World Health Organization and works with clinics to improve the delivery of health services in developing countries. Moree said there are growing efforts to use new technologies to improve the cold chain.

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On the Net:

Program for Appropriate Technology in Health: http://www.path.org

ALL INFORMATION, DATA, AND MATERIAL CONTAINED, PRESENTED, OR PROVIDED HERE IS FOR GENERAL INFORMATION PURPOSES ONLY AND IS NOT TO BE CONSTRUED AS REFLECTING THE KNOWLEDGE OR OPINIONS OF THE PUBLISHER, AND IS NOT TO BE CONSTRUED OR INTENDED AS PROVIDING MEDICAL OR LEGAL ADVICE.  THE DECISION WHETHER OR NOT TO VACCINATE IS AN IMPORTANT AND COMPLEX ISSUE AND SHOULD BE MADE BY YOU, AND YOU ALONE, IN CONSULTATION WITH YOUR HEALTH CARE PROVIDER.