医疗新合同：Micron 与疾控中心 CDC 推进无针贴片轮状病毒疫苗
总部位于 Atlanta 的临床阶段生物技术公司 Micron Biomedical 10月21日宣布，已与美国疾病控制与预防中心（CDC）签署一份疫苗开发协议，推进一款新型减毒活轮状病毒疫苗的研发。与现有口服疫苗不同，这款候选疫苗通过皮肤给药，采用该公司的微阵列贴片技术，无需针头注射。公司称，这是其与美国政府一系列联邦合作中的最新一项，候选疫苗最初由 CDC 开发。
Micron Biomedical 首席执行官 Steven Damon 表示，公司与美国政府的长期合作建立在共同目标之上：扩大工具种类，用微阵列疫苗与疗法保护儿童和成人免受致命疾病与感染，克服全球健康中的生物与物流障碍。他说，这份推进抗轮状病毒研发的联邦合同，对目前面临腹泻相关死亡风险的儿童是一个重要里程碑，也回应了医疗资源匮乏、惧怕针头和基础设施短缺人群的迫切需求。
公告援引的数据显示，轮状病毒是全球5岁以下儿童腹泻死亡的首要原因，每年约夺去20万名儿童的生命。现有口服轮状病毒疫苗在发达国家效果显著，但在中低收入国家，营养不良与肠道合并感染被认为会使其保护效力明显降低。公司希望，热稳定性更好、经皮肤给药的新剂型能绕开部分冷链、注射与肠道吸收方面的限制，把疫苗送到更难抵达的人群。
Micron Biomedical 自我定位为开发新一代热稳定疫苗与疗法的企业，其微阵列技术旨在让疫苗在缺少专业医护与完善基础设施的环境中也能分发和使用。本次协议的具体研发阶段与后续安排以公司与 CDC 的后续公布为准。
New Federal Contract: Micron and the CDC Advance a Needle-Free Skin-Delivered Rotavirus Vaccine
Micron Biomedical, a clinical-stage biotechnology company based in Atlanta, announced on October 21 that it has signed a vaccine development agreement with the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to advance a novel live-attenuated rotavirus vaccine. Unlike current oral vaccines, the candidate is delivered through the skin using the company's microarray patch technology, without needles. The company said the agreement is the latest in a series of federal collaborations, and that the vaccine candidate was developed by the CDC.
Steven Damon, chief executive officer of Micron Biomedical, said the company's longstanding collaboration with the United States government is grounded in a shared goal of expanding the range of tools available to protect and treat children and adults from deadly diseases and infections through microarray vaccines and therapies that overcome biological and logistical obstacles to global health. He called the federal contract a significant milestone for children at risk of diarrhea-related deaths, and a recognition of the urgent demand for approaches that address the needs of hard-to-reach populations affected by health care deserts, needle phobia and infrastructure shortages.
According to figures cited in the announcement, rotavirus is the leading cause of death from diarrhea in children under five years old worldwide, claiming about 200,000 lives annually. Current oral rotavirus vaccines are highly effective in developed nations, but in low- and middle-income countries malnutrition and gut coinfections are thought to contribute to significantly lower efficacy. The company hopes a more thermostable, skin-delivered format can bypass some cold-chain, injection and gut-absorption limits and reach populations that are harder to serve.
Micron describes itself as a developer of next-generation thermostable vaccines and therapeutics, and says its microarray platform is designed so vaccines can be distributed and used in settings with limited professional staff and infrastructure. Further development steps under the agreement will be set out in later announcements by the company and the CDC. The announcement, issued from Atlanta on October 21, did not describe the candidate as approved for use; it is a development-stage vaccine, and the work under the agreement is aimed at advancing it toward later testing and use.
发布：GSM·美国（发布链接）
图片来源：轮状病毒颗粒三维重建图（资料图）· 维基共享资源，CC BY 3.0
GSM Global · 本篇英文版 English edition of this story
