Novel genetic editing drug effective against African swine fever

A new therapeutic that uses gene editing to suppress the African swine fever virus cured the disease in just over half of pigs that received the drug in its first animal trial.

March 5, 2026

3D medical illustration of a virus particle with spike proteins and red genetic material

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A new therapeutic that uses gene editing to suppress the African swine fever (ASF) virus cured the disease in just over half of pigs that received the drug in its first animal trial, according to a paper published in the journal Viruses.

“Everyone wants 100%, but 57% for a first try was for me pretty impressive. We were very happy with that. ... Having any success in the first animal study is really exciting,” said Douglas Gladue, vice president of veterinary pharmaceuticals at Seek Labs, the biotech startup developing the gene-editing drug.

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