Chinese researchers solve the problem of "non-cold chain" storage and transportation of vaccines

Many biological drugs represented by the new crown vaccine have extremely stringent requirements for transportation and storage conditions.
How to safely and effectively solve the "non-cold chain" storage and transportation problem is an important topic
.

Recently, the student entrepreneurial team of the School of Pharmacy of Nankai University, under the guidance of instructors, has developed a new type of biological drug protection and storage technology with high safety and low cost, "molecular armor".
A new way
.

"Biological preparations" in the pharmaceutical industry specifically refer to "immune biological preparations", which are processed by microorganisms (bacteria, rickettsia, viruses, etc.
) and effective antigenic components of their metabolites, animal toxins, human or animal blood or tissues, etc.
It mainly includes antibodies, vaccines, hormones, etc.
, which are widely used in the prevention, treatment, and diagnosis of corresponding infectious diseases or other related diseases
.

However, the stability of biological preparations is poor and needs to be stored and transported in a special "small refrigerator", otherwise it is extremely vulnerable to external environmental influences such as temperature, pH, and pressure, and become invalid
.

"We urgently need new biopharmaceuticals to effectively protect biopharmaceuticals and improve their ability to fight against external environmental influences
.

The team's research found that under certain mild synthesis conditions, biomolecules can be wrapped in a new crystalline material in a one-step process, just like armoring biomolecules to protect biomolecules from the external environment
.

Compared with traditional inorganic porous materials, the new crystalline materials have larger porosity and specific surface area, especially with adjustable pore size and variable functional groups
.

The results show that under simulated extreme environmental conditions, the drug wearing "molecular armor" still maintains its structure and activity: under heating, acid-base, organic solvent, pressure and other tests, biological drugs maintain nearly 90% The biological activity of biopharmaceuticals; when stored for 2 months in a continuously changing temperature environment from 4°C to 50°C, the biological drug still maintains its activity
.

It is worth mentioning that the new crystalline material protective shell-"molecular armor" can be completely removed in an extremely simple way before the use of biological drugs, and will not enter the human body with the drugs, greatly improving the safety of the new biological preparations
.

"If you can get rid of the entire cold chain, it will greatly reduce the production, transportation and use costs of vaccines and other biological agents, and at the same time, it can greatly expand the scope of use of biological agents
.

The team is currently conducting research on new formulations of other biopharmaceutical products such as enzymes and hormones