US Biologic® and BARDA DRIVe Partner to Develop Oral Flu Vaccines for Home Delivery

MEMPHIS, Tenn., Aug. 9, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- US Biologic today announces a partnership with BARDA DRIVe to develop oral influenza vaccines, increasing access to these life-saving technologies. US Biologic joins DRIVe's "Beyond the Needle" portfolio of companies developing alternative technologies to transform vaccine administration, making vaccines more widely available and eliminating the need for needles, syringes, vials, and cold-chain distribution burdens.

"Influenza vaccines should be easily accessible to everyone," says US Biologic CSO, Jolieke G. van Oosterwijk, PhD. "With BARDA and our partners, we will increase healthcare equity by closing important prevention gaps across the U.S. and globally."

Influenza viruses continue to threaten U.S. public health. Since 2010, the CDC estimates that tens of millions of Americans have been diagnosed with flu, with hundreds of thousands of hospitalizations and deaths associated with these infections. The CDC recommends everyone receives a flu vaccine each year.

US Biologic CEO Mason Kauffman notes "Oral vaccines hold the potential to eliminate the need for needles and syringes, cold-chain logistics, and associated costs. We are honored to work with BARDA DRIVe and all our partners to meet these goals."

Also participating will be researchers at the University of Tennessee Health Science Center.

This project has been supported in whole or in part by the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA), part of the HHS Office of the Assistant Secretary for Preparedness and Response under Contract No. 75A50121C00008.

About US Biologic: 

US Biologic "Delivers Disease Prevention^®". The company's proprietary oral-delivery platform is changing global disease prevention, allowing safe, effective, and cost-efficient delivery of vaccines and therapeutics.

SOURCE US Biologic