Current adjuvants and new perspectives in vaccine formulation

Abstract

Given the important role of adjuvants in prophylactic vaccines, identification and development of new adjuvants with enhanced efficacy and safety is necessary. The use of adjuvants with immunopotentiating properties that can direct the immune responses to humoral or cell-mediated immunity and can induce T-cell responses has made it possible to design more protective vaccines. Although current regulations focus on traditional adjuvants, notably aluminum and calcium salts, advances have been made in regulatory considerations. The regulatory agencies for the evaluation of medicinal products are actively drafting guidance on requirements for the evaluation of new adjuvants. This article briefly summarizes the most widely studied adjuvants in vaccination, including those licensed for human vaccines and the regulatory aspects relevant to adjuvant quality at development stages.

Keywords::

• Alum
• EMA
• FDA
• ICH
• MF59
• regulatory procedures
• TLR agonists
• vaccine adjuvants

Financial & competing interests disclosure

The authors have no relevant affiliations or financial involvement with any organization or entity with a financial interest in or financial conflict with the subject matter or materials discussed in the manuscript. This includes employment, consultancies, honoraria, stock ownership or options, expert testimony, grants or patents received or pending, or royalties.

No writing assistance was utilized in the production of this manuscript.