This Canadian company is working on edible vaccine ‘oral strips’ you can eat

Not a big fan of needles? Well, a Canadian biotech company and McMaster University are working on a solution. Rapid Dose Therapeutics is currently developing an ‘oral strip’ similar to a breath strip, that can effectively deliver a vaccine. Here’s a little more info!

The technology is called QuickStrip, and it’s actually been around since early 2020. However, alongside McMaster researchers, RDT has been working hard to expand its uses. You can even buy QuickStrips right now, but with Vitamin B12, caffeine or melatonin instead of medication. All you gotta do is put in under/on your tongue, or the inside of your cheek, wait around 11 seconds, and voila!

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Turns out, it’s a real doozy to get things perfect (and rightfully so in the world of medication/vaccines). However, so far tests have been able to prove that you can get proteins (like the mRNA vaccines) on them and that they can stay stable at up to 40° Celsius, which is way warmer than current temperatures. Now, the final hurdle is figuring out what kind of immune response they create when administered.

Of course, this has much bigger implications than just not liking needles. The high temperature and easy packaging could be a huge benefit for countries that lack the infrastructure to rapidly deliver vaccine programs. What’s more, the medication inside the strips could change, and help with things like the flu, West Nile Virus… pretty much whatever.

And, we’re hoping it works out!