In April this year Apiam announced that it had entered into agreement with La Trobe University to develop a vaccine to aid in the prevention of Japanese Encephalitis (JE). This project involved taking an existing vaccine technology and applying it to make a vaccine that expressed an antigen that we could show would bind to antibodies in serum from local pigs that had been infected with the Australian strain of JE virus.
We are pleased to report that the vaccine has been developed and has performed very strongly using these tests, providing the industry with a vaccine that can be quickly manufactured using existing methods at ACE Laboratories. While the level of efficacy of all vaccines is dependent upon several factors including adjuvant, timing, and maternal antibodies, we are confident that this vaccine will play a part of your JE prevention program.
Accordingly, on 30th November 2022 we lodged a permit application with the APVMA for use of the vaccine under emergency provisions. Our application included letters to support from pig industry bodies, the veterinary industry and state government. The APVMA have since been working closely with the Apiam regulatory team to bring this product to market in the near future.
We have already commenced manufacturing the vaccine at ACE Laboratories with final testing of scale production and final safety and quality control testing. Our vets will be reaching out to our clients to discuss the vaccination program and to get an indication of potential usage so that we can forecast ongoing manufacturing accordingly. The cost of the vaccine is expected to be in line with other sow vaccines, and we can discuss more specifically with you if interested.
It’s quite amazing what has been able to be achieved from commencement of the project 6 months ago. with an enormous effort having ben put in by our team to develop a vaccine against this pathogen, knowing the importance of assisting our clients as fast as possible.
For further details please contact your Apiam vet.
