Artes Biotechnology, InstrAction and Q-Biologicals have teamed to develop a virus-like particle (VLP) vaccine platform for use in veterinary applications.
The three-year project, dubbed Plurivax, is funded by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research and the Belgium-based Flanders Agency for Innovation by Science and Technology. VLP is a manufacturing technology that involves production of recombinant vaccine antigens in nontransgenic plants, offering potential speed and cost advantages over traditional egg-based vaccine production.
VLPs have been a widely used vehicle for the development of vaccines used in humans, the companies said in a press release, by transporting foreign antigens to the immune system. The Plurivax project will focus on adapting that technology for veterinary uses in a cost-effective way.
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| Michael Piontek, managing director of Artes |
lf successful, they said, it would be the first of its kind and would reduce the need for antibiotic treatment of production animals, which would reduce the costs of raising them as well as improving the quality of life for the animals.
"Together, our platforms build an excellent approach to low-cost mass production of safe and effective vaccines," Michael Piontek, managing director of Artes, said in a statement.
- here's the release