Scientists have invented a rectangular cartridge that can store vaccines at 45°C without refrigeration by trapping live viruses inside sugar glass. The process mixes viruses with sugars that dry into a hard plastic film, immobilizing the vaccine in suspended animation. This breakthrough could reduce vaccine costs by 14-20% and increase access in developing areas by eliminating the need for refrigeration during transport and storage.

1. NEW
INVENTION

2. Sugar Glass Preserves Vaccines
Scientists at Nova Bio-Pharma Technologies and
the University of Oxford have invented a rectangular
cartridge that can store vaccines without refrigeration.
Vaccines currently need to be transported and stored in refrigerators,
which greatly increases costs, limits access and reduces the vaccine
efficacy.
Vaccines must be refrigerated between 4 °C to 8 °C to stay effective.
This increased cost is between 14 to 20 percent (an average of $200
million for most countries).
In developing countries, where refrigeration and electricity are often
scarce, vaccination is non-existent.
This new medical invention seals live vaccine viruses inside sugar.
The trapped vaccines can be stored at temperatures of 45 C without any
degradation for months.
The process mixes the live viruses with sucrose and trehalose. The
solution is then dried on a plastic film that hardens into a sugar-glass
cartridge.
The vaccine is immobilized and kept in suspended animation inside
the sugar‐glass. When needed the cartridge is simply screwed into a
standard vaccine syringe for injection.