Micro-Needle Vaccine Patch
Social innovation is a method a providing a solution(s) to social problems on a large-scale platform. These solutions allow for more effective, efficient, and sustainable ways to overcoming social issues than current ones (1). In order to establish social innovation, tri-sector engagement is required to combat the global issues. Cooperation between the public, private, and not-for-profit sectors provides the ability to develop, fund, and establish initiatives to combat targeted social problems.
Eliminating the presence and expanse of vaccine-preventable diseases on a global scale has proven difficult for many years. Those leading the fight against vaccine-preventable diseases must consider and understand the prominent challenges entailed in an effort to develop and implement social innovations that will allow them to positively impact their target groups on a global scale. The challenges they face include high costs of vaccination, difficulty transporting and delivering the vaccines, and a defunct and virtually non-existent medical record keeping system in most third world countries. The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation is teaming up with Vaxess Technologies, Inc. via a $6 million grant in an effort to combat the presence of expensive vaccines and the difficulty of transporting them due to heat sensitivity and the need to be refrigerated. The grant supports research into the development of a new technology called MIMMIX. The technology presents a dual micro-needle vaccine patch that does not require refrigeration and delivers the vaccine through a quick and simple 5-minute application of the patch to the recipient’s skin. The development of these patches would directly confront the shortage of needles, syringes, and refrigeration equipment in developing nations. In essence, the new technology would simplify administration methods and reduce costs of delivering vaccines to patients, especially in developing nations. By revolutionizing the vaccine industry the patch technology “has the potential to streamline global eradication effort,” according to Vaxess CEO Michael Schrader (2).
At times, social innovation can be driven through the establishment of partnerships that prioritize selflessness over hunger for profit. In 2010, a non-profit organization called the GAVI Alliance announced a partnership between pharmaceutical companies Pfizer and GlaxoSmithKline. The deal entailed the pharmaceutical heavyweights agreeing to supply about 300 million doses of pneumonia and meningitis vaccines to the world’s poorest countries over a ten-year period. Western markets typically see the pneumococcal vaccines sell for $54-$108 per dose. The agreement sought to significantly reduce those costs to enable a larger global impact in the fight against the vaccine-preventable diseases. The deal proposed a price tag of just $7 per dose for the first 20% sold and half that for the remaining 80%. While the pharmaceutical companies would still be making a profit, it would be greatly decreased but for the greater good. The initiative also proposed that costs could be further reduced if vaccine makers in developing countries joined the program and allowed for further outreach that could save millions of more lives (3).
References:
Phills Jr., James A., & Deiglmeier, Kriss, & Miller, Dale T. (Fall 2008). Rediscovering Social Innovation. Stanford Social Innovation Review. Retrieved from https://ssir.org/articles/entry/rediscovering_social_innovation
2. TVR Staff. (March 21, 2017). Needle-Free Vaccines Backed by Gates Foundation. The Vaccine Reaction. Retrieved from
http://www.thevaccinereaction.org/2017/03/needle-free-vaccines-backed- by-gates-foundation/
3. Pollack, Andrew. (March 23, 2010). Deal Provides Vaccines to Poor Nations at Lower Cost. The New York Times. Retrieved from
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/24/business/global/24vaccine.html
