BRIEF WEEKLY REPORT

PHARMACEUTICAL FORMULATION OF
THE POLIO VACCINE (THE SALK VACCINE
AND ORAL POLIO VACCINE)
CHE 714 PHARM TECH AND PROCESSING
KANIZ PRIYANGKA
500430440
01/10/2015

ABSTRACT
Pharmaceutical formulations deal with modified or new formulation technologies and format of a drug
to optimize the vaccine product, perfect its efficiency, stability, safety, minimize production cost and
ease of use and availability in different parts of the world especially, in developing countries.
IPV and OPV are used throughout the world to cure poliomyelitis. The first was developed by Jonas Salk
(in 1952) and the second by Albert Sabin (in 1957). The latter discovery caused the first modern mass
inoculation. The development of these two polio virus has effectively controlled the transmission of the
disease from person-to-person which has prevented Polio from being an epidemic in the current
timeline. The pharmaceutical formulation of the polio vaccine will be talked about below.
DEVELOPMENT OF THE PV VACCINES
[1]

Brodie, in the year 1935, a research assistant from New York University tried making a vaccine with
10% formalin suspension of the PV (Polio Vaccine) from infected monkey spinal cord. He performed
animal trials on 20 monkeys and then switched to human trials on 3000 children. The results were not
positive and this vaccine was not continued. In the same year, 4% suspension of PV from infected
monkey spinal cord was treated with sodium ricinoleate. Clinical trials were done on monkeys and
children and it was shut down shortly as 10% of the patients developed acute paralysis. Some cases
were fatal.
The above led to the discovery of three distinct viral types of PV and in-vitro experiments. This led to the
discovery of IPV and OPV.
IPV
Salk produced the first polio vaccine (IPV). He grew virus on monkey cells and inactivated it with
formalin in his cell culture. In 1954, clinical trials were done on 1.6 million children in a placebocontrolled trial in Canada, Finland and the US. [1]Salks vaccine was adopted in US around 1955 and it
dramatically decreased paralytic poliomyelitis from 13.9 cases per 100000 in 1954 to 0.8 cases per
100000 in 1961.
The drawbacks to using IPV were numerous. There was a decrease of titres of the circulating antibody
within a few years of vaccination (i.e. it didnt provide long lasting immunity from PV). Approximately
1500 monkeys were sacrificed form every 1 million inactivated doses. This posed a natural threat to the
specie population.
OPV
OPV contains the attenuated version of the vaccine and its strains were experimented on rats and mice
and later used in cell cultures. Sabins trivalent oral vaccine was very effective in producing large
amounts of antibody and also prevented clinical trials on monkeys. The OPV contained three live
attenuated Sabin poliovirus strains which was obtained by sequencing in vitro and in vivo on wild
strains. Salk donated the OPV vaccine to WHO making it available to everyone in need.

WORKS CITED AND REFERENCES

1. Baicus A. History of Polio Vaccine. August. 2012: 642-44. World Journal of Virology. Web. 25
Sept. 2015.
2. Dennis, Thompson. "The Salk Polio Vaccine: 'Greatest Public health Experiment in History',
Dec.2, 2014. Web. 25 Sept 2015.
3. Hela. Wikipedia: The Free Encyclopedia. Wikimedia Foundation, Inc. 20 September 2015. Web.
25th September 2015 <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HeLa>
4. Polio Vaccine. Wikipedia: The Free Encyclopedia. Wikimedia Foundation, Inc. 24 September
2015. Web. 25th September 2015 <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polio_vaccine>
5. Jonas Salk. Wikipedia: The Free Encyclopedia. Wikimedia Foundation, Inc. 24 September 2015.
Web. 25th September 2015 <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jonas_Salk>