On July 9, Phibro Animal Health Corporation announced that, with significant progress in the ongoing development of a vaccine against African swine fever (ASF), it is patenting its products.

This important step in the vaccine development process involves the identification of immunogenic epitopes and proteins that demonstrate strong potential to form the basis for an ASF vaccine.

Phibro research team members have made this identification using a unique bioinformatics analysis tool to select the epitopes and proteins with the greatest potential that can trigger a protective immune response.

Their approach is to create a specific vaccine based on the epitope, and not according to the more generally accepted way of using an attenuated live vaccine. If successful, this approach will not only be an effective response to ASF, but also lead to the creation of a vaccine that does not pose a risk of further spread of the disease.

Jack Bendheim, President and CEO of Phibro, commented: “The development of ASF in China is not only a crisis for the entire pig industry, but, more importantly, a food security crisis for humanity.

The identification of this group of peptides and proteins is a key milestone in Phibro's quest to eradicate this devastating disease. Although we still have a lot of work ahead, we have made important progress towards this goal and are proud to be part of the solution to such an urgent problem. ”