A clinical trial by Maryland-based vaccine maker Iomai Corporation showed that of 59 people who used the patch – which slaps on the skin to deliver the vaccine without a needle – only three found their guts growling with diarrhoea.
Comparing this to results from travellers who were given a placebo, the test showed that the patch cut outbreaks of diarrhoea by three-quarters.
“These are clinically significant results that suggest that the patch vaccine will address the most significant unmet need for travel medicine: prophylaxis for travellers’ diarrhoea,” said Gregory Glenn, the company’s chief scientific office. [News]