The team received a provisional patent for its development and will file patents in Canada and the United States by July 20, according to Sparling.
"It started when I was at summer camp at Shad," Sparling said. "We were split into teams, and each team is challenged with an idea. Last year, it was to create a project for the aging population of Canada."
A member of Sparling's team suggested a pill form of the vaccine was suggested by a member of Sparling's team, since people who are 65 and older "are more afraid of needles than younger people," he said. The elderly are also more susceptible to the flu virus, he said.
The vaccine is encased in a "multi-component capsule" that provides protection as it passes through the digestive system, before being absorbed into the body, he said.
The content of the new pill is identical to the traditional immunization, and the research focused only on the "delivery system," Sparling said.
His team is currently researching whether or not this capsule can be used for other immunizations, he said.
"It could potentially be used for any dead vaccine," he said of the capsule's potential. "We're looking at insulin right now. The design could be altered slightly, and it could eventually replace insulin pumps."
While the vaccine is not yet on the commercial market, Sparling said he and the other members of his team plan to make it publicly available in the future. His team will not assume the responsibility of commercializing the product, he said.
Sparling's team also funded the project by applying for grants, and future funding may come from the Canadian government, he said.
After the patents have been established, Sparling and his team will work toward medical confirmation of the product, he said.
"We have had over 10 physicians confirm it so far," he said. "We just like to try to get proof that the concept actually does work."
Once the product is ready for general distribution, Sparling and his team intend to sell the intellectual property of the vaccination capsule to an existing pharmaceutical company, he said.
"It would be impossible to take on the major corporations like Pfizer," Sparling said.
Oral immunization of influenza is unlikely to be widely utilized in the near future, according to Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center pediatrician Peter Wright '64 DMS '65, who specializes in infectious disease.
"It's a good idea, and it's an area that interests me, but I would say it's a 10 to 15-year process getting a vaccine through various safety tests," Wright said.
The quality of the vaccination may suffer if administered through the digestive system, he said.
"There may be a breakdown of proteins and loss of viability through the stomach," he said. "It also asks questions of whether immunity developed primarily in the gut will protect the respiratory tract," he said, adding that the respiratory tract is a primary target of the influenza virus.
Wright also identified logistical and financial problems with distributing Sparling's vaccine in addition medical concerns.
"There is another series of very complicated steps to negotiate whether there's interest on the part of pharmaceutical firms in developing this approach," he said. "It's a multi, multi-million dollar process to bring a vaccine to the point where it's considered safe."
Sparling said he hopes to eventually attend medical school and focus on orthopedic surgery after graduating from the College.
