PharmaJet Needle-free System Selected for WHO Polio Immunization Campaign in Somalia

• The campaign builds upon evidence from house-to-house administration of Inactivated Poliovirus in Nigeria which demonstrated needle-free, intradermal vaccine administration is easy-to-use and can achieve high immunization coverage.
• Over a quarter million of PharmaJet’s needle-free intradermal syringes have been provided to support this initiative.
• The house-to-house campaign is a collaboration of AFENET, WHO, UNICEF, BMGF, GAVI and CDC.

GOLDEN, Colo. — June 27, 2024 — PharmaJet^®, a company that strives to improve the performance and outcomes of injectables with its innovative delivery systems, today announced that their Tropis^® Intradermal (ID) Needle-free System will be used in a house-to-house polio immunization campaign. With an aim of significantly reducing the immunity gap against type-2 poliovirus, the campaign will be conducted in two rounds. In each round, children 4-59 months of age will receive the needle-free polio vaccine and novel oral polio vaccine with a goal of achieving 95% coverage. The campaign, a collaboration of the African Field Epidemiology Network (AFENET), WHO, UNICEF, BMGF, GAVI and CDC, is targeting over 170,000 children in 4 districts in Banadir, Somalia. The ongoing variant poliovirus outbreak, the longest running of its kind, has paralyzed 38 children in Somalia. The most recent evidence for human circulating vaccine-derived polio virus-2 (cVDPV2) was on 8th March 2024. In April, Somalia’s Minister of Health and Human Services, His Excellency Dr Ali Haji Adam, and high-level representatives of the Global Polio Eradication Initiative (GPEI) met to review progress and further scale up efforts to end the country’s 7-year variant poliovirus outbreak. Through the Somalia Emergency Action Plan (SEAP 3), the country will continue to work with humanitarian partners to reach about 1.5 million zero-dose children, most of whom live in the country’s highly populated central and southern areas.¹ The house-to-house, needle-free campaign in Somalia builds on the positive results of a WHO-lead pilot in Nigeria which demonstrated that administering an injectable vaccine with Tropis facilitates high coverage rates.² Specifically, the field evaluation found a majority of parents (94%) and health staff members (93%) preferred needle-free injections over needle and syringe administration. 87% of target group children received their immunization during this campaign.² PharmaJet’s Tropis System was previously deployed for polio vaccinations in the Berbera Region of Somaliland where researchers found needle-free administration of fIPV “had the potential to reach many more children as it could be implemented faster than other immunization methods”. High immunization coverage was achieved due to preference for the use of intradermal needle-free delivery in addition to other factors and the willingness of parents to bring their children due to less invasive administration using needle-free. Previously, vaccine teams using needle-free for polio vaccine administration in Pakistan achieved 18.4% improvement in mean coverage while 97.6% of vaccinators and 99.6% of caretakers expressed a preference for needle-free over traditional needle-and syringe.³ “The PharmaJet team is very pleased to collaborate with AFENET, WHO, UNICEF, BMGF, GAVI and CDC on this important campaign. Having delivered over 10 million polio immunizations using needle-free in Nigeria, Pakistan, and Somalia, we are very committed to the Global Polio Eradication Initiative,” said Paul LaBarre, Vice President, Global Business Development, PharmaJet. “In Somalia, we are eager to build on previous house-to-house campaign experience that demonstrates how needle-free enables vaccination teams to move quickly and achieve high coverage without the burden of sharps waste management and with reduced vaccine volume and cold chain logistics.” For more information about PharmaJet visit https://pharmajet.com.

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¹Somalia’s health minister and partners plan to intensify efforts to end 7-year variant poliovirus outbreak, UNICEF, April 16, 2024 ² Biya, Oladayo, et al., Notes from the Field: House-to-House Campaign Administration of Inactivated Poliovirus Vaccine – Sokoto State, Nigeria, November 2022; Weekly/ November 24, 2023/72 (47): 1290-1291 ³ Daly, C et al, Needle-free injectors for mass administration of fractional dose inactivated poliovirus vaccine (fIPV) in Karachi, Pakistan: A survey of caregiver and vaccinator acceptability, Vaccine, Volume 38 Issue 8, 18 February, 2020, Pages 1893-1898. About PharmaJet The PharmaJet mission is to improve the performance and outcomes of injectables with our innovative delivery systems that better activate the immune system. We are committed to helping our partners realize their research and commercialization goals while making an impact on public health. PharmaJet Precision Delivery Systems™ can improve increased vaccine effectiveness, allow for a preferred patient and caregiver experience, and offer a proven path to commercialization. They are also safe, fast, and easy-to-use. The Stratis® System has U.S. FDA 510(k) marketing clearance, CE Mark, and WHO PQS certification to deliver medications and vaccines either intramuscularly or subcutaneously. The Tropis System has CE Mark and WHO PQS certification for intradermal injections. They are both commercially available for global immunization programs. For more information or if you are interested in partnering with PharmaJet to improve the impact of your novel development program, visit https://pharmajet.com or contact PharmaJet here. Follow us on LinkedIn. About the Global Polio Eradication Initiative The Global Polio Eradication Initiative is a public-private partnership led by national governments with six partners – the World Health Organization (WHO), Rotary International, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and Gavi, the vaccine alliance. Its goal is to eradicate polio worldwide. The Polio Eradication Strategy 2022–2026 brings integration into focus through two transformations of approach. The first is a recognition that for polio eradication to succeed, chronically low immunization coverage and demand-based refusals of polio vaccines in key geographies and populations must be addressed, for which integration provides targeted solutions. The second is a revaluation of integration as a step towards the long-term, sustainable transition of polio functions to other health programs and national health systems as the world nears polio eradication. CDC/Role in Global Polio Eradication The CDC plays a critical role in eradicating polio by providing scientific leadership and guidance at the global, regional, and country levels to implement evidence-based strategies to stop polio worldwide. CDC engages with partners, countries, and communities to deliver vaccines, detect cases, and respond to outbreaks quickly.