July 17, 2020

Kansas State University working with South Korean company on ASF vaccine

Kansas State University (K-State) is working together with its innovation partners and MEDIAN Diagnostics (MDx), a South Korean veterinary medicine company to develop an African swine fever (ASF) vaccine, K-State reported.

Waithaka Mwangi, professor of diagnostic medicine and pathobiology in the university's College of Veterinary Medicine said the technology used comes from the novel adenovirus backbone, developed from human adenovirus serotype 6. This adenovirus is able to amplify a transgene up to 10,000 copies in the infected cell without producing infectious viruses.

Mwangi said the single-cycle adenovirus technology (SCAd) is safe to use as it allows a recombinant virus encoding a gene of interest to mediate protein expression in an infected cell in a similar manner as a replication competent virus but without producing infectious progeny.

Mayo Clinic originally developed the platform, which Mwangi said is the way to deliver the vaccine safely and effectively.

Mwangi added that compared to traditionally used live, inactivated and subunit vaccines, the SCAd platform can safely induce more robust and persistent immune responses.

JinSik Oh, CEO of MDx said there are many challenges when trying to commercialise an ASF vaccine, such as safety.

The MDx CEO said SCAd technology is suitable to develop an ASF vaccine candidate as it is one of the most advanced and promising platforms, with K-State the best partner to develop the vaccine in the veterinary research and development area. That is why MDx decided to invest in the project.

The ASF vaccine's formulation and testing is expected to be completed in this research and development project, with has entered its first year of funding and continue until 2023.

-        Kansas State University