LONDON, Oct 19: British scientists have taken tips from Mother Nature to develop a new technology that could deliver cheaper, life-saving vaccines without refrigeration to millions of children in remote areas of the world.

About two million youngsters die every year from vaccine-preventable diseases, like measles. Each year up to 50 percent of vaccines are ruined because of temperature damage.

The stable-liquid vaccine technology devised by researchers at Cambridge Biostability Ltd (CBL) eliminates the need for costly refrigeration.

"It could revolutionise how we deliver vaccines in the developing world," said Dr Stewart Tyson, of Britain's Department for International Development which will provide 950,000 pounds ($1.7 million) for the project.

"This technology offers the potential to deliver vaccines outside the cold chain," he told reporters.

Vaccines need to be refrigerated all the time to keep them potent. The cold chain adds an estimated cost of $200-$300 million each year, according to the World Health Organisation.

Removing the cold chain alone would enable the vaccination of an extra 10 million children within existing budgets.

NATURAL PLANT PROCESS: The new technology involves drying the vaccine molecules and embedding them in tiny sugar beads or glass spheres. Each sphere is inert and absolutely stable without the need for refrigeration.

The process is based on a natural process that enables some plants to remain in a desiccated state for hundreds of years and then return to life. "Our technology is stolen from Nature," said Dr Bruce Roser, the chief scientist of CBL.

The spheres are suspended in stable, injectable liquids and will not release the vaccines until they are dissolved in the body following injection.-Reuters