Saskatchewan Lab First For New Vaccine

CANADA - A new enteric swine vaccine, developed in Québec, will be produced in Saskatoon by the Saskatchewan Research Council (SRC). Production starts this month and it is the first live animal vaccine to be developed, validated, and produced in Canada in the past ten years.
calendar icon 16 January 2008
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Prevtec Microbia Inc, a Québec-based animal health company, and SRC recently received Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) approval to produce and market Coliprotec.

"This new vaccine can provide some comfort for farmers who face losing a good portion of their swine population to disease," said Lyle Stewart Minister responsible for SRC. "The opportunity to produce animal vaccines will help bring new business to Saskatchewan and new health care products to livestock producers in this province and throughout Canada," he added.

Research Spin-off

The vaccine was developed by Dr John Morris Fairbrother and Dr Éric Nadeau of the Faculty of Veterinary Medicine at the University of Montreal. Prevtec is a spin-off company that resulted from this research

In partnership with Prevtec, SRC carried out the pre-license serial testing work in its Biosafety Level 2 Fermentation Pilot Plant in order to secure CFIA regulatory approval to commercialize the vaccine.

"We are very proud of the achievement of another Saskatchewan first," SRC president and CEO Dr. Laurier Schramm said. "We are now the only contract research organisation in Canada with this type of regulatory approval to produce animal vaccines."

Prevtec president and CEO Michel Fortin said that there has been a strong demand from industry for this type of vaccine. "It effectively controls post-weaning diarrhoea in swine, a common disorder that can spread easily and result in major financial losses for a producer. About one pig farm in four will, at some point, be affected by the disease. It may be responsible for a mortality rate as high as 10 per cent," he added.
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