LONDON (Reuters) - British scientists have developed a new way of storing childhood vaccines without refrigeration, which could slash costs and increase access to life-savings shots in poor countries.

The UK government said on Tuesday it would provide 950,000 pounds ($1.7 million) to fund production of a five-in-one childhood vaccine using the new technology, which was developed by privately owned Cambridge Biostability Ltd.

Currently, childhood vaccines have to be kept cold to remain potent, which contributes significantly to the $30 cost for each child.

The new system embeds the vaccines in tiny sugar beads, which allows them to be stored without refrigeration until needed. The technology is based on the same process that allows some plants to remain in a desiccated state for hundreds of years and then return to life.

Savings from removing the "cold chain" from vaccine programs would enable the vaccination of an additional 10 million children worldwide within existing budgets, according to the project's backers.

The new vaccine -- against measles, rubella, tetanus, whooping cough and diphtheria -- will be manufactured by Panacea Biotec, based in New Delhi, a leading Indian biotechnology company.

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