Kansas State University has begun work to develop a vaccine for African Swine Fever, which has killed hundreds of million of hogs around the globe.
The K-State research is sponsored through a research agreement between K-State Innovation Partners and MDx, a South Korean veterinary medicine company.
“The technology we are utilizing is based on a novel adenovirus backbone — developed from human adenovirus serotype 6 — that can amplify a transgene up to 10,000 copies in the infected cell without producing infectious viruses,” says Waithaka Mwangi, professor of diagnostic medicine and pathobiology in the university’s College of Veterinary Medicine.
Currently, safety is one of the biggest challenges to commercializing an ASF vaccine.
“We should enhance the vaccine efficacy on the basis of guaranteed safety. We are convinced the SCAd technology is one of the most advanced and promising platforms to develop next-generation African swine fever vaccine candidates and Kansas State University is the best partner to cooperate with in the veterinary research and development area, so MDx made a decision to invest in this project,” JinSik Oh, CEO of MDx said in the release.
MDx will continue to fund research through 2023.
Studies have shown an outbreak of ASF in the U.S. could lead to $50 billion in losses.
You can see the full release here.