Aus scientists developing edible vaccine

Marshall and his team will now apply for approval to trial their first edible vaccine containing a bug with a flu vaccine attached to it within a year,the report said.

The next step is to submit this data with an application to government bodies like the TGA (Therapeutic Goods Administration) and FDA (Food and Drug Administration) in the US,perhaps,for the next study which would be to put a vaccine into bacteria we have chosen to show we can vaccinate somebody, Marshall said.

The next trial will not be a giant study but it may be 30-100 participants he added.

The tests on 30 people were performed by Marshall along with his team of 15 scientists at his biotech company Onde in Perth.

The scientists injected five strains of bacteria Helicobacter pylori – a cancer-causing stomach bug – into five groups of six participants to find out if they would cause any side-effects.

The bugs were collected from elderly people in Sweden who had carried the bugs all their lives but never showed any symptoms. They easily infected the trial participants,who suffered none or only minor side-effects such as occasional stomach upsets.

Three of the bug strains lasted longer than three months,while the other two disappeared in the same period.

The results suggested the bugs were safe for scientists to attach vaccines for delivery through the wall of the stomach instead of a syringe.

One of the things we might be able to do with this vaccine is vaccinate people for the long term, Marshall said,adding,the (bacterium) strain will sit there and vaccinate you for weeks or months.

Something like that could be advantageous in the future for things like TB or HIV. Then there are others which colonise you temporarily which would be good for things like flu vaccines, he said.

The bugs were given to the participants in the form of a chicken broth during the trials.

For the next trials,the scientists plan to give participants one dose of the edible vaccine,possibly in the form of a yoghurt which Marshall believes is ideal for people to eat as a vaccine.

Marshall,who won a Nobel Prize in 2005 for discovering Helicobacter which causes stomach ulcers,said there was huge potential for edible vaccines.

They would be an easy way of providing booster vaccines to baby boomers as well as others to fight off hepatitis B,malaria and swine flu.

A lot of baby boomers havent had vaccines since they were kids and they are wearing off and they can develop things like whooping cough and chicken pox, Marshall said.

We could have different strength vaccines for different purposes. Some could be boosters while others could be life-saving vaccines.”