Virosomes: a Novel Vaccination Technology

Vaccine development has continuously shifted away from live attenuated or inactivated whole organisms. Although this approach having good efficacy but for improvement on comparison of risk/benefit ratio which needs improvement due to their highly complex compositions which result in safety concerns. As a consequence, a number of indications remained unadressed. The next generation vaccines represented as subunit vaccines, whereby the only pathogens fragments used which are relevant in inducing protective immunity. For the successful subunit vaccination two major key requirements are safe carrier and adjuvant system, since the small, isolated pathogen fragments themselves are generally weak immunogens. Pevion’s virus-like particle (VLP) vaccine technology, called virosomes, and their design is specifically for the development of safe and effective subunit vaccines. Virosomes based vaccination has already been approved in more than 40 countries, including for elderly and infants. It is successful in solid regulatory & safety track record as well as the feasibility of production upscaling. The outstanding profile with combined efficacy and safety of virosomes-based vaccines are known for its origin in the unique mode of action of these multifunctional particles. It leads to a comprehensive induction of a complete immune response, in contrast to single-sided triggers. Virosomes are reconstituted viral envelopes that can serve as vaccines and as vehicles for cellular delivery of macromolecules. The prospect of drug delivery and targeting using virosomes is an interesting field of research and development. As virosomes are biocompatible, biodegradable, nontoxic, and non-autoimmunogenic, and various attempts have been made to use them as vaccines or adjuvants as well as delivery system for drugs, nuleic acids, nucleic acids, or genes for therapeutic purposes. The virus of choice is influenza virus. Virosomal drug delivery depends on the methods used to prepare the encapsulated bioactive material their incorporation into the virosomes, and followed by the characterization and formulation of the finished preparations. This technology can potentially be used to deliver peptides, nucleic acids or genes, and drugs like antibiotics, anticancer agents, and steroids. In this paper reviewed about the advantages of virosomes in successful delivery of immunogens.