LONDON (ShareCast) - (Sharecast News) - Eco Animal Health has entered into two worldwide exclusive research partnerships, it announced on Thursday, to develop novel vaccines for use in pigs.
The AIM-traded firm said the two new partnerships with the Pirbright Institute in the UK and the Vaccine Group (TVG) reinforced its commitment to research and development focussed on diseases of economic importance in pigs and poultry.

It said the first collaboration would, over an 18 month period, use technologies at Pirbright to develop killed PRRSV vaccine candidates capable of entering a full development programme, and providing immunity against multiple strains of the virus.

A killed PRRSV vaccine would offer an "attractive alternative" to the current generation of live vaccines, the board said, which were only partially effective against different strains and suffered from safety constraints owing to the potential for the live vaccine virus to revert back to an infectious form.

The second collaboration would test vaccine candidates at Pirbright, created using TVG technology, to insert non-infectious PRRSV genes supplied by Pirbright into a benign herpesvirus, which would then stimulate the immune system when delivered into animals.

Vaccines that use herpesviruses as their base have been shown to provoke "particularly strong" reactions from T-cells, which are a vital part of the antiviral response.

The company said it expected that the initial phase, to develop candidate vaccines capable of entering a full development programme, would be up to 18 months.

It said the two PRRSV species, being type-1 and type-2, were responsible for one of the most economically damaging diseases to the global pig industry, costing European pig farmers an estimated €1.5bn a year, and those in the US around $600m.

"We are delighted to have partnered with The Pirbright Institute once again to develop novel vaccines, enabling the protection of pigs whilst reducing the risks associated with the use of live vaccines for a disease of global economic importance," said chief executive officer Marc Loomes.

"Our collaboration with the Pirbright Institute and TVG leverages the deep scientific expertise of the Pirbright Institute and TVG's novel herpesvirus vector technology in an exciting new approach to PRRSV vaccination."

At 1006 BST, shares in Eco Animal Health were up 1.13% at 205.8p.

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