WHO Launching Polio Eradication Campaign in Pakistan Using PharmaJet Precision Delivery System

• 5 million Needle-free PharmaJet Tropis^® ID syringes are being provided for polio immunization campaigns.
• Published results show that the Tropis System is a preferred and effective solution to help increase campaign coverage by over 18%.

GOLDEN, Colo.--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- PharmaJet^®, a company engineering precision delivery systems that overcome the challenges of vaccine delivery, today announced their support for the World Health Organization’s (WHO) polio eradication campaigns in Pakistan starting in May 2023. PharmaJet is providing an additional 5 million syringes to the WHO for a supplemental immunization activity (SIA) campaign which will be conducted in two phases in the Southern districts of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) Province located in the north-west region of Pakistan, and in the Quetta Block located in Northern Balochistan Province near the Pakistan-Afghanistan border. The PharmaJet Tropis Precision Delivery System™ (PDS) was selected based on its proven cost savings, ease of training, and improved immunization coverage benefits.

The WHO previously introduced needle-free intradermal delivery of inactivated polio vaccine (ID-IPV) in Pakistan and Somalia using the PharmaJet Tropis ID PDS for the immunization of millions of children. Published results from Pakistan¹ and recent survey results from Somalia² showed that the Tropis PDS is an effective and preferred solution for polio immunization campaigns that can help increase campaign coverage by over 18%. An ongoing study evaluating Tropis use for Routine Immunization Administration of IPV has been previously reported.

The Global Polio Eradication Initiative has two key goals: Goal One is to permanently interrupt all poliovirus transmission in the final WPV-endemic countries of Afghanistan and Pakistan, and Goal Two is to stop circulating vaccine-derived poliovirus (cVDPV) transmission and prevent outbreaks in non-endemic countries.³ In Pakistan, all recent polio cases are now concentrated in just 3 districts of a single province. These districts are characterized by inaccessibility, insecurity, and a range of protracted and complex humanitarian emergencies. “Very much like COVID, as long as we have polio transmission anywhere, potentially everywhere is at risk. To finish the job, we need to have an absolute, unrelenting focus on what we consider to be the most consequential geographies,” said Aidan O’Leary, Director, Polio Eradication at the WHO.⁴

Chris Cappello, President and CEO, PharmaJet commented, “We are pleased to continue our collaboration with the WHO for over 5 years with a common goal of global eradication of polio. Now, with over 12 million needle-free syringes provided across multiple polio vaccination campaigns, we have confidence that our Precision Delivery Systems are safe, effective, and can be rapidly deployed in response to emergencies anywhere on the globe. We remain ready and committed to quickly supporting future immunization campaigns for eradication and new pandemics as needed.”

For more information about PharmaJet visit www.pharmajet.com.

Refer to Instructions for Use to ensure safe injections and to review risks.

¹ 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.
² Data on file
³ World Health Organization, Polio Endgame strategy 2022-2026, https://polioeradication.org/gpei-strategy-2022-2026/
⁴ WHO Science in 5 video, Vismita Gupta-Smith, WHO Communications, interviewing Aidan O’Leary, Director, Polio Eradication, WHO; WHO’s Science in 5: Will the world eradicate polio in 2023? - YouTube

About PharmaJet

The PharmaJet vision is to enable greater access to life-saving vaccines and pharmaceuticals globally. We are committed to helping our partners realize their research and commercialization goals while making an impact on public health. PharmaJet Precision Delivery Systems provide increased vaccine effectiveness, a preferred patient and caregiver experience, and 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 visit https://pharmajet.com. Follow us on LinkedIn.

About the Global Polio Eradication Initiative (GPEI)

Over the last decade, the Global Polio Eradication Initiative (GPEI) made steady progress on the path to eradication. Wild poliovirus types 2 and 3 (WPV2 and WPV3) were declared eradicated in 2015 and 2019, respectively; the World Health Organization (WHO) South-East Asia Region was declared free of poliovirus in 2014; and most recently, the WHO African Region was certified free of wild poliovirus (WPV) in August 2020. However, the final steps towards eradication have proven the most difficult.

The GPEI now faces programmatic and epidemiological challenges that demand new approaches to place the partnership and impacted countries on an emergency footing. To achieve a polio-free world, the GPEI has re-envisioned the endgame pathway with an urgent call for collective ownership and accountability across the GPEI partnership and with governments, communities and all other stakeholders.

The Polio Eradication Strategy 2022–2026³ offers a comprehensive set of actions that will position the GPEI to deliver on a promise that brought the world together in a collective commitment to eradicate polio. These actions, many of which are already under way in 2021, will strengthen and empower the GPEI to meet challenges head-on and achieve and sustain a polio-free world.

The GPEI will transform its approach in each region and country through five mutually reinforcing objectives that lay the foundation to achieve two elemental goals: Goal One to permanently interrupt all poliovirus transmission in the final WPV-endemic countries of Afghanistan and Pakistan, and Goal Two to stop circulating vaccine-derived poliovirus (cVDPV) transmission and prevent outbreaks in non-endemic countries.

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