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FEATURE: Alison Tonks A spoonful of antigen BMJ 2007; 335: 180-182 [Full text]

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Edible vaccines...or injectable??

Ed Rybicki   (31 July 2007)

Edible vaccines...or injectable?? 31 July 2007
Ed Rybicki, Professor Univ Cape Town, 7701 South Africa Send response to journal: Re: Edible vaccines...or injectable??	I was very interested to read - on the prompting of a medical colleague - the article on edible (or rather, plant-produced) vaccines in BMJ. As someone involved in this field, it was gratifying to see acknowledgement of how it has moved on from the "fruit a day" paradigm to "a measured dose". FAR more realistic. Now people just need to realise that injecting plant-made vaccines is not such a bad idea.... It was also good to see Charles Arntzen and his group receiving kudos for not only practically inventing the conept, but being among the ones most likely to make it work in humans. And yes, it is frustrating to see how slow Big Pharma is to accept the concept of a new production and delivery vehicle for vaccines - but the tide is turning. Apropos of HPV vaccines, the days of Merck's Gardasil at US$120/dose, $360/course are hopefully numbered. Watch this space.... Competing interests: None declared