A Compendium of Vaccine Adjuvants and Excipients

Abstract

In the early 20th century, researchers experimented with diverse compounds such as alum (aluminum salts), mineral oil, and killed mycobacteria to improve the immunogenicity of vaccines. These first empirical studies demonstrated the adjuvant activity of many substances, but several products also elicited significant local and systemic adverse reactions that precluded their use in human vaccine formulations. Alum adjuvant, first described in 1926, remains the only immunologic adjuvant used in human vaccines licensed in the United States.