After receiving oral vaccines, pregnant sows successfully transmitted immunity to porcine epidemic diarrhea (PED) virus via their milk to their newly born piglets, according to the companies that conducted the experiment. The vaccine was developed by Sanphar Asia using artificial cell membranes from ACM Biolabs.
"This result is very significant because the main problem for farmers is that PED is often fatal for piglets within the first one or two weeks of life,” said Kai Grathwohl, PhD, global head of research and development and business development for Sanphar Asia, in a press release. “Therefore, there is not enough time to vaccinate the new-born piglets and elicit an endogenous immune response before the disease hits.
"Now with an oral vaccine which, given to pregnant sows, protects the new-born piglets through lactogenic immunity, we really do have the potential to make a truly effective product against PED, something which is desperately needed in the market,” said Gratwohl.
An earlier study showed that both oral and injected pig vaccines made by ACM provided immunity against PED virus in weaning pigs.
“We are now focused on scaling up our technology, and look forward to continuing to work closely with Sanphar to bring a product to market as rapidly as possible,” Madhavan Nallani, PhD, CEO of ACM Biolabs.
About ACM Biolabs and SANPHAR Animal Health
ACM Biolabs is a synthetic biology company using its proprietary Artificial Cell Membrane ("ACM") technology platform to develop diagnostics, therapeutics and vaccines targeting novel membrane proteins.
SANPHAR Asia works to develop vaccines for the herds of Asian farmers, based on the occurrence of local pathogens and strains.
