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POWDERJECT, the pharmaceutical
group, hopes to make its needle-free injection system more widely available
to developing countries, while continuing to strengthen its links with
GlaxoSmithKline (GSK).
Paul Drayson, chairman and chief executive of
PowderJect, said that the company’s PowderJectO gas powered drug delivery
device is ideal for Third World conditions.
“The system needs no training to administer
but more importantly the vaccines it delivers are powdered and do not need
refrigerating like traditional liquid vaccines and drugs,” Dr Drayson said.
He was speaking as PowderJect revealed it is
to test a new vaccine for hepatitis B in conjunction with GSK, which will
also be delivered through its PowderJectO system.
GSK has pledged to make HIV drugs available
cheaply to a swath of developing countries after criticism of the company’s
increasing profits in the face of a shortage of crucial drugs in the Third
World.
PowderJect has work in progress on HIV drug
delivery and a malaria vaccine, as well as the hepatitis vaccine.
“We would align ourselves with Glaxo’s
strategy and do everything we can to supply our technology to the Third
World,” Dr Drayson added.
Oxford-based PowderJect, through its
subsidiary PowderJect Vaccines, will study the effectiveness of a DNA
treatment to combat hepatitis B.
The trial will involve 24 healthy volunteers
who will receive three doses of a DNA-based vaccine administered by the
PowderJectO system.
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