Biological Mimetics, Inc., a vaccine design company based in Frederick, MD, has
announced their development of a next-generation polio vaccine that is safer, more potent, and less expensive to manufacture than current polio vaccines in an effort to boost eradication.
The polio vaccine has been one of the major medical success stories as the incidence of poliomyelitis has been eliminated in almost all countries and global eradication appears close at hand. Polio serotypes 2 and 3 have been successfully eradicated and efforts to eliminate Polio 1 are continuing.
Once eradicated, the current vaccines will need modernization to maintain a polio-free world. The Oral Poliovirus Vaccine (OPV) is an inexpensive and effective vaccine and has been the workhorse of eradication efforts. However, the attenuated strains of OPV can revert to pathogenic forms and this vaccine has been phased out in most countries in favor of the Inactivated Poliovirus Vaccine...