IIT Guwahati completes tech transfer of vaccine to combat swine fever

Guwahati | Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Guwahati has successfully transferred a 'pioneering' vaccine technology to a manufacturing company specialising in high-quality vaccines for combating swine fever virus in pigs and wild boars, a release said on Tuesday.

This vaccine marks the first recombinant virus-based solution for classical swine fever developed in India, offering a swift and cost-effective method for pig vaccination.

The technology has been successfully transferred to BioMed Pvt Ltd for commercial production of the innovative vaccine, the release said.

The vaccine for pigs harnesses a reverse genetic platform pioneered and refined at IIT Guwahati.

Swine fever, a highly contagious disease among pigs, poses a severe threat with a very high mortality rate, although it does not affect humans.

In India, instances of this disease have been frequently observed in North Eastern states as well as in Bihar, Kerala, Punjab, Haryana, and Gujarat, among others.

The vaccine work was started in 2018-19 through collaborative efforts between researchers from the Department of Biosciences and Bioengineering at IIT Guwahati, and Assam Agricultural University in Guwahati.

Their research findings have been published in two papers, and featured in Process Biochemistry and Archives of Virology journals.

This vaccine is being created and produced for the first time in India.

Transferring the vaccine technology to one of the leaders in the veterinary vaccine sector marks a remarkable achievement, the release said.

At present, the vaccine is under the process of filing test and analysis licence, it added.

Reverse genetics stands as a potent method and tool for the development of vaccines targeting both animal and human diseases. The technology has been widely used to develop vaccines against influenza.

The researchers have utilised the Newcastle disease virus (NDV), traditionally studied for its pathogenicity in chickens, as a carrier for the essential proteins of the classical swine fever virus.

This innovative method facilitates the development of immunity in the body and is characterised by its speed and cost-effectiveness, the release added.