IDRI Licenses Vaccine Microneedles

The Seattle-based Infectious Disease Research Institute, a nonprofit global health research center, said today it has agreed to license technology from Israel-based NanoPass to use very short “microneedles” that cause less pain than traditional needles. The technology is supposed to stimulate the dense network of immune system cells just under the surface of the skin, which might make a number of new vaccines more protective, IDRI said in a statement. Financial terms of the agreement weren’t disclosed.

Author: Luke Timmerman

Luke is an award-winning journalist specializing in life sciences. He has served as national biotechnology editor for Xconomy and national biotechnology reporter for Bloomberg News. Luke got started covering life sciences at The Seattle Times, where he was the lead reporter on an investigation of doctors who leaked confidential information about clinical trials to investors. The story won the Scripps Howard National Journalism Award and several other national prizes. Luke holds a bachelor’s degree in journalism from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, and during the 2005-2006 academic year, he was a Knight Science Journalism Fellow at MIT.