Jet Injection of DNA Vaccines - Powderject Pharmaceuticals' PowderJectjet injection system - Product Information

Applied Genetics News, April, 1999

Powderject Pharmaceuticals (Oxford, England) and its subsidiary PowderJect Vaccines, Inc.(Madison, WI) recently completed a human clinical trial using its PowderJectjet injection system to deliver a DNA based vaccine, while another trial is about to begin using Bioject Medical Technologies' BioJector 2000 system.

The PowderJect phase 1b trial enrolled 12 subjects and was designed to test the safety and immunogenicity of the company's hepatitis B prophylactic DNA vaccine. Interim data indicated that 11 of these subjects developed protective antibodies to a level of at least 10 mill-international units per ml and that the vaccine was well tolerated. Complete data now available show that all 12 subjects had a seroprotective response. "Only microgram quantities of DNA were needed to elicit this response, an important commercial and safety advantage of other technologies which require up to 1000 fold more DNA," observes Paul R. Drayson, chair and CEO of PowderJect Pharmaceuticals. Bioject Medical Technologies (7620 SW Bridgeport Rd., Portland, OR 97224; Tel: 503/639-7221, Fax: 503/624-9002), a leading manufacturer of jet injection devices for needle-free drug delivery, announced that phase I trials have begun with Vaxid, a DNA-based vaccine for the treatment of lymphoma using the Biojector 2000 jet injector as a delivery system. "We are pleased that our needle-free technology can be used to enhance the delivery of DNA-based vaccines for the treatment of cancer," says Jim O'Shea Bioject's chair, president, and CEO. The study is sponsored by Vical, Inc. (9373 Towne Centre Dr., Suite 100, San Diego, CA 92121; Tel: 619/453-9900, Fax: 619/453- 5885) and is being conducted at Stanford University by John Timmerman and Ronald Levy. The Biojector 2000 is being used in comparison with needle and syringe because other studies have suggested that the Biojector may be a more optimal route of delivery for DNA-based vaccines.