Plant-based squalene vs. shark squalene for vaccine adjuvants
Why Amaranthus-derived squalene is emerging as a scalable, sustainable alternative to shark-liver-derived squalene in adjuvant formulation.
Squalene has been used as a vaccine-adjuvant component for decades, most commonly sourced from shark liver oil. Supply constraints, sustainability concerns and batch-to-batch variability in marine-sourced squalene have pushed formulators to look for plant-based alternatives that can match the same purity bar.
Amaranthus-derived squalene, standardized to 99% HPLC purity, is one such alternative. Because Amaranthus is a cultivated crop rather than a wild-caught marine byproduct, supply is more predictable and traceable — a meaningful advantage for pharmaceutical procurement teams that need to plan multi-year supply agreements.
It's worth being precise about the claim here: a standardized, high-purity plant-based squalene is a credible adjuvant *component* supplier story, not a vaccine efficacy claim. Any formulator evaluating this substitution should validate performance in their own adjuvant system before making a switch.