Plug-and-play vaccine

[Kb27]

Plug-and-play vaccine, a good read:

 

Prof Sarah Gilbert, Covid vaccine creator: Now let’s take on 12 more diseases

If you head to the cutting edge of vaccinology you will find Prof Dame Sarah Gilbert, from the Jenner Institute and the architect of the Oxford vaccine.

Using a revolutionary technology, the team at Oxford had a vaccine ready to start clinical trials in just 65 days. In partnership with pharma giant AstraZeneca, more than 1.5 billion doses have been distributed around the world.

 

The new generation of vaccines are quick to make and highly flexible. "It's like decorating a cake," says Prof Gilbert.

The old-school method of developing vaccines means you must go back to the raw materials and start from scratch for every vaccine you make. It is like starting with a bench of flour, sugar, eggs and butter. The next step is to take the offending virus, or other disease-causing microbes, and either kill it or weaken it to make a vaccine.

Take the two seasonal flu vaccines that are given each year. The adult jab is made by growing influenza viruses inside eggs. The viruses are then purified and killed to make the vaccine. The nasal spray for children has live viruses, but these are made weak and unstable so they can grow in the cooler temperatures of the nose, but not in the warmth of the lungs.

But it takes a lot of work to start from scratch for every new disease and there is plenty that can go wrong. You can end up with the vaccine-equivalent of a soggy bottom.

The development of Oxford's coronavirus vaccine used a completely different approach known as "plug-and-play".

With this type of vaccine most of the work has already been done - the cake has been pre-baked, it just needs to be "decorated" in order to match its target.

"We've got the cake and we can put a cherry on top, or we can put some pistachios on top if we want a different vaccine, we just add the last bit and then we're ready to go," Prof Gilbert tells Inside Health.

 

Two of the other big Covid vaccines - one made by Pfizer-BioNTech and the other by Moderna - use another style of highly adaptable plug-and-play vaccine technology. And all these technologies should make it quicker and easier to develop the vaccines of the future.

"There's a lot of vaccine development that we need to do now that we can do it," says Prof Gilbert.

Top of her list of targets are the official "priority pathogens". While Covid was a surprise, these are the known threats that are bubbling away with the potential to cause large outbreaks and potentially the pandemics of the future.

 

Some of this work is already under way. Oxford has started clinical trials of a plague vaccine using its plug-and-play technology. Plague infamously caused the Black Death pandemic killing hundreds of millions of people. Separately Moderna is already looking at using its own mRNA technology to make a Nipah vaccine. The virus kills up to three-quarters of infected people.

Yet, the big barrier for tackling these diseases will be the same as it has always been - money. They affect some of the poorest parts of the world and there is concern that, even in the wake of pandemic, research won't be funded.

And, while vaccine technology has leapt forward - the old enemies are still the same and some have tricksy quirks that mean they pose monumental challenges.

All vaccines need a target - called an antigen - that they train the immune system to attack.

For all the problems Covid has caused, the virus was a pretty simple beast and the target antigen was blatantly obvious. The outer surface of the virus is covered in spike proteins. So all researchers had to do was plug in the genetic blueprints for the spike protein, train the body to recognise it and be pretty confident that the vaccine was going to work.

However, the target antigen is not obvious in other more complex microbes such as the three big killers - malaria, HIV and tuberculosis. HIV is a constantly moving target. It is a shape-shifter that rapidly mutates in order to alter its appearance and outwit our immune system. It is hard to know how to pin it down.

We already have vaccines against malaria and tuberculosis, but they are far from perfect.

 

Read more : https://www.bbc.com/news/health-58898085

 

[1fast1]

I didn't read most of it because it is a waste of time. 

They're trying to follow a Silicon Valley software model? Well, it doesn't work for healthcare in general. Here's an example of a monumental failure - that became a monumental scam: Theranos. 

Here's another term from software development that's apposite: vapourware. 

Plug and play vaccine development is exactly like vapourware. Except it shouldn't be vapourware to anyone with a functioning brain and a triple digit IQ because we already have real world evidence of failure and unmet promises. Neither Pfizer nor Moderna has led in agile development of specifically adapted novel vaccines against the VoCs (variants of concern) like Delta that are actually the main problem worldwide now. Instead we're stuck with having to boost people with the old stock just hoping to scare up enough of an anamnestic response that can cross react with the VoCs. 

The problem is partly due to the strict regulatory standards imposed on drug development and partly due to harsh economic realities: big pharma needs to recoup its ROI on the old shit before they commit big money to new shit. It's that simple. 

Edited October 17, 2021 by Turboflat4

[Ender]

If really like silicon valley model.. I just need an internet connection, I will get the latest vaccine update as long I am a subcriber to Pfizer.com.. Good leh...

[Nolicense]

1 hour ago, Turboflat4 said:

I didn't read most of it because it is a waste of time. 

They're trying to follow a Silicon Valley software model? Well, it doesn't work for healthcare in general. Here's an example of a monumental failure - that became a monumental scam: Theranos. 

Here's another term from software development that's apposite: vapourware. 

Plug and play vaccine development is exactly like vapourware. Except it shouldn't be vapourware to anyone with a functioning brain and a triple digit IQ because we already have real world evidence of failure and unmet promises. Neither Pfizer nor Moderna has led in agile development of specifically adapted novel vaccines against the VoCs (variants of concern) like Delta that are actually the main problem worldwide now. Instead we're stuck with having to boost people with the old stock just hoping to scare up enough of an anamnestic response that can cross react with the VoCs. 

The problem is partly due to the strict regulatory standards imposed on drug development and partly due to harsh economic realities: big pharma needs to recoup its ROI on the old shit before they commit big money to new shit. It's that simple. 

it seems that makers of mrna vaccines came out with the original flavour soon enough coming from nothing in under a year. as you mentioned pfizer and moderna has not made a delta variant vaccine yet to recoup roi.

but if it is plug and play, just a little tweak in development and roi should not be an obstacle to for churning out the delta vaccine. i now begin to doubt roi is a reason and the true nature is agile development is vapourware. if that is true, these vaccine makers may already have had the knowledge of the original strain for more than 1 year. it is very likely it was circulating way before 2019.

Edited October 17, 2021 by Nolicense

[Windwaver]

2 hours ago, Turboflat4 said:

I didn't read most of it because it is a waste of time. 

They're trying to follow a Silicon Valley software model? Well, it doesn't work for healthcare in general. Here's an example of a monumental failure - that became a monumental scam: Theranos. 

Here's another term from software development that's apposite: vapourware. 

Plug and play vaccine development is exactly like vapourware. Except it shouldn't be vapourware to anyone with a functioning brain and a triple digit IQ because we already have real world evidence of failure and unmet promises. Neither Pfizer nor Moderna has led in agile development of specifically adapted novel vaccines against the VoCs (variants of concern) like Delta that are actually the main problem worldwide now. Instead we're stuck with having to boost people with the old stock just hoping to scare up enough of an anamnestic response that can cross react with the VoCs. 

The problem is partly due to the strict regulatory standards imposed on drug development and partly due to harsh economic realities: big pharma needs to recoup its ROI on the old shit before they commit big money to new shit. It's that simple. 

These pharmas are making loads of $$

[Tianmo]

It's a virus,  and they are making an anti-virus,  same same windows but no same same windows... 

 

[Tianmo]

5 hours ago, Ender said:

If really like silicon valley model.. I just need an internet connection, I will get the latest vaccine update as long I am a subcriber to Pfizer.com.. Good leh...

When you subscribe,  they will send you the anti-virus via email, you just have to down load the anti-virus to a thumb drive, and carry with you everywhere you go. It will help you to scan for viruses within  a 30m radius and alert you.  Every now and then they will send you a patch up to your email, and all you have to do is update your thumb drive... 

Sound like idea right? 

 

[Ender]

27 minutes ago, Tianmo said:

When you subscribe,  they will send you the anti-virus via email, you just have to down load the anti-virus to a thumb drive, and carry with you everywhere you go. It will help you to scan for viruses within  a 30m radius and alert you.  Every now and then they will send you a patch up to your email, and all you have to do is update your thumb drive... 

Sound like idea right? 

 

Ok, subscribing to pfizer.com now .

[Tianmo]

15 minutes ago, Ender said:

Ok, subscribing to pfizer.com now .

Oh no no no,  not pfizer.... 

It's tianmo.com,  Mai kan Salah hor.......