德國生物製藥公司CureVac研發出耐極端溫度的疫苗，贏得歐盟執委會第一屆疫苗創新獎。CureVac公司的新技術，讓全世界都有機會以合理的價格使用救命的疫苗，因此獲得2百萬歐元（約8千4百萬台幣）獎金。
疫苗保存難 高溫浪費了一半
歐盟執委會疫苗創新獎的用意，是鼓勵解決開發中國家使用疫苗的最大難題：讓疫苗在任何溫度下保持穩定。
絕大部分的疫苗都需要保存在穩定低溫之中，因此常常在熱帶和開發中國家的運輸和儲存過程中，因溫度的變化而失去作用。根據世界衛生組織的估計，全球有一半的疫苗補給被浪費掉，絕大多數是因為沒能在使用前妥善冷藏。
德商研發全新免疫療法 可望抗傳染病、癌症
CureVac的RNActive®疫苗技術是以能刺激免疫系統的傳訊RNA（mRNA）為基礎。核糖核酸簡稱RNA，存在於所有生物細胞中，負責基因的編碼、解碼、調控和表現。
CureVac的網站解釋：「我們的配方很簡單。身體會接收儲存在RNA中的訊息，並利用這些訊息自行產生特殊的蛋白質作為解藥。」而RNActive®的新技術能刺激免疫系統，「提供預防傳染性疾病或對抗癌症的全新免疫療法。」
此特殊的RNA能被直接注射入生物體，讓身體製造出引起免疫反應的蛋白。CureVac正在用新疫苗進行一系列的臨床實驗。當技術通過完善的測試，CureVac就能快速製造出以RNA為基礎的疫苗，對抗任何傳染性疾病，並且送到世界各個偏遠角落。
歐盟評審：新疫苗將可多方應用
歐盟執委會提供2百萬歐元的疫苗獎金，鼓勵歐盟或是歐盟第7期歐盟科研架構計畫國家內的任何法人團體開發新疫苗技術。歐盟執委會不設限開發取向，參與者只需向評審團說服自己的新技術最符合評審標準，包括新疫苗配方或保存運輸的新方法。
評審團特別肯定此技術促進全球健康的潛力，表示新疫苗可應用在許多疾病和疫苗，也許能形成新的疫苗組合，未來有機會用單一的設備就製造大量的疫苗。
German biopharmaceutical company CureVac GmbH has won the European Union’s first innovation inducement prize for technology producing vaccines that are stable in both hot and freezing temperatures.
CureVac’s RNActive® vaccine technology is based on messenger RNA (mRNA) molecules that stimulate the immune system. Ribonucleic acid, or RNA, is a family of molecules found in all living cells that are essential in the coding, decoding, regulation, and expression of genes.
The company received the €2 million (US$2.77 million) prize for progress towards this novel technology that could bring life-saving vaccines to people across the planet in safe and affordable ways.
The European Commission offered the prize to encourage inventors to overcome one of the biggest barriers to using vaccines in developing countries: the need to keep them stable at any ambient temperature.
Vaccines are often rendered ineffective by temperature variations during transport and storage in tropical and developing countries, long before they can be administered, because for most vaccines, the doses must be kept at a constant and cool temperature.
The World Health Organization estimates that half of all supplied vaccine doses are wasted, mostly due to an inadequate “cold chain” to protect them before use.
“Our format is simple,” explains CureVac on its website. “The body receives specific information that is stored in RNA and uses this information to produce its own, custom-tailored protein as medicine.”
RNActive® stimulates the immune system, “providing potent vaccines for the prevention of infectious diseases or supplying potent novel immunotherapies against cancer,” CureVac says.
This specialized RNA can be directly injected into an organism; the body then produces proteins that elicit an immune response. CureVac is currently running a number of clinical trials with these vaccines.
When the technology is fully tested, CureVac could rapidly produce RNA-based vaccines against almost any infectious disease, and deliver them to the most remote areas of the world.
The prize jury highlighted the potential of this technology to achieve large global health benefits. The jury said it could be applied to many diseases and a number of vaccines, might allow the formulating of a combination of vaccines, and could allow the production of many vaccine units in a single facility.
The European Commission offered the €2 million vaccine prize for innovations to any legal entities in the EU or in a country associated with the EU’s 7th Research Framework Programme. No particular approach was prescribed and competitors were invited to convince the jury that their solution could respond best to the competition criteria, including alternative ways of formulating, preserving or transporting vaccines.
※ 全文及圖片詳見：ENS
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In my healing journey and learning to attain the breath awareness, I become aware of the reality that all the creatures of the world are breathing the same breath. Take action, here and now. From my physical being to the every corner of this out of balance's planet.
