South China's Hainan Province Agricultural authorities confirmed that the African swine fever (ASF) vaccine developed in China has shown certain preventive effects after clinical trials.
“Researchers will conduct tests on more samples, evaluate the drug safety, possible [side] effects of virus mutation on injection, effective duration, stability, feasibility for production and raw material resources," Global Times reported.
The report said product development was by Led by Xu Qitai with Jinzhu Agricultural Development Co. They claim “to have successfully developed an injection that can effectively prevent African swine fever with a minimum 92% success rate, and also owns patent rights.”
Guangdong Highsun Group Co., a property leasing and retail company, said Wednesday that it had made a commitment of CNY100 million (US$14.45 million) to ASF vaccine production. Local authorities confirmed this, according to the Global Times article.
The money is intended to be used to produce the said ASF vaccine. “In return, Highsun Group will be entitled to acquire a 30% stake in Hainan-based Jinzhu Agricultural Development Co. before June 30, 2020,” Global Times said.
Other vaccine options in the works
Inovio Pharmaceuticals Inc. and Plumbline Life Sciences announced on May 15 that they will be working together to create a vaccine for ASF. Inovio will create and test the vaccine in small animal models.
“Plumbline will further test the vaccine in larger animal models, including in pig challenge models and further develop to commercialize the vaccine,” a press release from Inovio said.
A possible ASF vaccine has been developed and tested in wild boars in Spain, and one of the researchers indicated it may be able to protect other pig herds.
According to a Frontiers in Veterinary Science article, University of Madrid researchers, led by Jose A. Barasona, obtained 12 wild boar piglets. Initially, nine of the wild boars were orally treated with the experimental vaccine, 104 TCID50 of Lv17/WB/Rie1 ASFV. The remaining three animals were exposed to the vaccinated animals to test vaccine transmission at different times.
The vaccine was created using serum from a wild boar hunted in Latvia in 2017 that tested positive for ASF.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Agricultural Research Service (ARS), recently announced that it intends to grant an exclusive license for an experimental ASF vaccine claimed in the U.S. to Huvepharma EOOD of Sofia, Bulgaria.
“Scientists with VIDO-InterVac, in partnership with the Canadian Food Inspection Agency and partners in Kenya where African swine fever is present in pigs, have been working to develop vaccines to protect against the virus,” mySteinbach recently reported.
View our continuing coverage of the African swine fever outbreak.