United States-based Aquavit Pharmaceuticals Inc has filed two patent applications with the United States Patent and Trademark Office, it was reported on Friday.

The patent applications include platform technologies directed to novel methods for immunising patients against infectious diseases such as COVID-19 using microchannel delivery devices. The applications also include vaccine compositions directed against SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus antigens and a new microchannel drug delivery device capable of administering the vaccine compositions or other drugs by non-health care professionals, which is crucial in times of a pandemic crisis.

The new devices, compositions and methods described in the patent applications are claimed to allow the administration of therapeutic vaccine compositions using microchannel delivery into these hard to reach epidermal and dermal layers of the skin, rich in antigen-presenting cells for promoting effective immune responses.

Aquavit's microchannel technology is claimed to overcome the existing problems of vaccine delivery, while also avoiding bleeding and pain that are normally associated with commercially available immunisation methods.