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HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Citizen, 2016-11-10, Page 14PAGE 14. THE CITIZEN, THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 10, 2016. Sparling vaccine patent granted after six years Making progress A non-invasive vaccine originally developed by Blyth's Grant Sparling and a group of his fellow high school students through the Shad Valley program in 2010 has finally received patent approval in China and Japan. Approval awaits in the United States, Canada, Australia and the European Union. Sparling is seen here with his patent approval documents from China. Once all approvals are received, Sparling hopes to sell the vaccine, saying he's now too busy as the vice-president and general manager of Blyth Cowbell Brewing Company to pursue those other interests. (Denny Scott photo) By Shawn Loughlin The Citizen After a journey of nearly six years, an invention that began with one of Blyth's bright young minds has received a patent in China and Japan with approval pending in a handful of others. Grant Sparling, a 17 -year-old high school student at the time, was one of 500 students selected to take part in the Shad Valley Program. The program, founded in Waterloo in 1980, takes exceptional and motivated high school students from all over the country and encourages them to work together to develop new products or services based on the year's theme. Sparling's theme for the group in 2010 was to develop a product that would serve Canada's aging population. The students were divided into small groups in order to develop their own product/service. Sparling's group developed Formulation V720, a non-invasive vaccine delivery system. The pill was designed to deliver vaccines to senior citizens by way of a specially - designed capsule that released the vaccine within the small intestine. During the development process, the group spoke with several experts in the science that they were dealing with, including a chemist, who explained that the science behind the product should work and that the chemistry behind it is "sound". "If you're over the age of 65, you're at a greater risk of influenza," Sparling said in 2010. "We worked to develop a capsule that's protected from the digestive enzymes. It's a lot simpler, less expensive and less painful" Sparling explained that the pill is designed around fibre, which cannot be digested, which encapsulates the vaccine. The fibre is held together by fatty acids. Once in the small intestine, they are broken down and the vaccine is then released. Sparling and his group was sent to Lakehead University in Thunder Bay, one of 10 universities that accepted groups of students through the program, to work on the project. The group's vaccine was deemed the university's best project, which meant it would then be judged against the top projects from the other nine universities. It placed second program -wide, finishing at the top of the marketing plan and scientific principles categories, but third in terms of their business plan. Sparling, however, was not the first of his family to attend the program. His sister Jessica had been part of the Shad Valley program just a few years earlier. The experience was intense, Sparling said, and it provided him with a thirst for the business world, a career he hadn't yet considered until his time at Shad Valley. After speaking with a biochemist and an immunologist, Sparling and his group decided to patent the idea. He travelled to Toronto to speak to one lawyer in regards to filing the paperwork and then to another about setting up a company, therefore getting the wheels of the process moving. The group was granted a one-year Making beautiful music The Teen Challenge Women's Choir was in Auburn at Huron Chapel late last month to perform and share stories of overcoming addiction through the program and with help from religion. The choir was welcomed to the community by Pastor Mark Royall. (Shawn Loughlin photo) provisional patent, which gave Sparling and his group one year to perfect the product and do further research. When looking into a patent, he said, there were no products similar enough to his to worry about. He said that there were some products that were vaguely similar, but nothing too close to what they were trying to accomplish. After being granted the provisional patent, the group continued to work and it was clear there was merit to the project and they proceeded to work to patent the vaccine, which Sparling now says is a long and involved process. When Sparling received news that the patent had been approved in China and Japan, he received official documentation from those countries that he's unable to read himself. He is hoping that patents will be approved in the United States, Canada, Australia and the European Union. Now in 2016, Sparling says the world of patenting a pharmaceutical is a complicated one, with some very big players working to protect their interests. That's why, in part, the process has taken so long — to ensure that a new patent wouldn't infringe on existing patents. While Sparling is still very enthusiastic about the project and feels it has great potential, a lot has changed in his life in six years. Now the vice-president and general manager of Blyth Cowbell Brewing Company, Sparling says he has far too much going on in his life to manage the vaccine. The brewery is in the midst of constructing its home location at the corner of Blyth and London Roads, all while working to release its second beer, Doc Perdue's Bobcat and begin work on its new Renegade Series. If the patent is approved in the four aforementioned regions, he hopes to sell it to a pharmaceutical company and move on. #1 And We ET A (Still Try Harder! Recent circulation figures show The Citizen has the highest circulation in the northern part of Huron County, #3 in the entire county. 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