Dried influenza vaccines: Over the counter vaccines

Since last year influenza pandemic has struck again after 40 years, this is the right moment to discuss the different available formulation options for influenza vaccine. Looking back to the last 4 decades, most vaccines are still formulated as liquid solution. These vaccines have shown a poor stability profile and are limited in their potential route of administration. An ideal solution to these problems can be to convert vaccines into a dry and stable powder formulation. Recently, drying and delivery technologies have shown promising results regarding the vaccine stability. Therefore, in future we can envisage a stable dry influenza vaccine. Also with regard to the route of administration developments are accelerating and the potential of non-invasive administration has been demonstrated. © 2010 Landes Bioscience.