imugene prrs vaccine succeeds in pig trial

First Bird Flu, then Coccidiosis, now PRRS is successful!!
Patience will be rewarded $$. IMHO DYOR...

• Imugene’s recently modified PRRS vaccine proves highly effective in US based trial

20 August 2008, Sydney, Australia: Preliminary results from the recently completed pig trial in the US have been received. The results show Imugene’s new modified PRRS vaccine provides a very high degree of protection against the PRRS disease when two doses are administered either orally or by injection. Porcine Reproductive and Respiratory Syndrome (PRRS) is caused by a viral infection. The major clinical signs are the result of areas of diseased lung (consolidation). To evaluate the severity of an infection, standardised lung lesion scores are generated by scoring the diseased areas in each of the 7 lung lobes from each pig and then generating an average. The lower the average lung lesion score the better, as this indicates a lower level of disease. In addition, clinical illness slows weight gain during and after infection. An effective vaccine should result in less clinical illness and therefore better weight gains following infection. A summary of the preliminary results for the average lung lesion score and average 14 day body weight gain appears in the following table. Following challenge with the live PRRS virus, vaccinated pigs had much lower lung lesion scores and better weight gains over the 14 day post-challenge period compared to the unvaccinated control pigs.

Control group Oral Vaccine Injected Vaccine
Average Lung Lesion Score 9.76 1.31 1.88
Average14 Day Body Weight Gain 5.45kg 6.00kg 6.37kg
% Improvement in weight gain above control
NA 10.1% 16.9%

Imugene managing director Dr Warwick Lamb said, “This is the first time a PRRS vaccine has been convincingly shown to be effective when administered orally to pigs. The commercial advantages for the pig production industry of a non-injectable vaccine against such an important disease are huge. The modifications made to the PRRS vaccine in the laboratory have translated into much better disease protection in the animal trial. The successful trial result against such a major pig disease is very positive for Imugene’s entire pig vaccine platform. The PRRS vaccine will now be the lead product to progress into the regulatory process for the PAV vaccine range with authorities in the US.” The trials were undertaken at a specialist trial facility in the US. A full trial report including statistical analysis is being prepared and is expected in the next 4-6 weeks. Imugene will now use these results in discussions with major international animal health companies with a view to possible licensing agreements. PRRS is one of the most economically damaging pig diseases worldwide causing industry losses of up to $1 billion each year. Initially recognised in the US in 1987 the disease spread to Europe in 1990 and subsequently across most of the rest of the world. Australia is one of three countries considered PRRS-free. The vaccine is based on Imugene’s Porcine Adenoviral Delivery Vector that delivers selected genetic material to the pig to stimulate the immune system to protect against the PRRS virus.