- The company has signed an agreement with the Indian Council of Agricultural Research – National Institute of High Security Animal Diseases (ICAR-NIHSAD) on Tuesday for receiving the indigenously developed technology.
- The indigenously developed inactivated H9N2 vaccine for poultry is developed using a local isolate, thereby ensuring that the vaccine is made from the local strain and not by importing any exotic strain.
NE BUSINESS BUREAU
AHMEDABAD, DEC 28
Hester Biosciences Ltd. on Wednesday announced that it has acquired the technology for the development and commercialisation of the low pathogenic avian influenza (H9N2 strain) inactivated vaccine for poultry.
The company has signed an agreement with the Indian Council of Agricultural Research – National Institute of High Security Animal Diseases (ICAR-NIHSAD) on Tuesday for receiving the indigenously developed technology.
The agreement was signed at the office of Agrinnovate India, New Delhi in the presence of Dr Himanshu Pathak, Director General (DG), ICAR; Dr BN Tripathi, Deputy DG, ICAR, Dr. Ashok Kumar, Assistant DG, ICAR; Dr Praveen Malik, CEO, Agrinnovate India; Dr. Aniket Sanyal, , Director, NIHSAD, Rajiv Gandhi, CEO & MD, Hester and Dr Manoj Kumar, CSO, Hester.
Agrinnovate is a government entity that acts as an interface between ICAR and the stakeholders in the agriculture sector, which includes technology transfers for vaccine manufacturing in the veterinary sector.
Until date, India had no vaccine available for Avian Influenza despite periodic outbreaks across the country. This makes the vaccine have significant commercial potential, according to the company.
Hester said that the indigenously developed inactivated H9N2 vaccine for poultry is developed using a local isolate, thereby ensuring that the vaccine is made from the local strain and not by importing any exotic strain.
This development achieves the country’s objective towards making India Aatmanirbhar (self-reliant).
The company plans to launch the vaccine by the end of 2023 after completing the required field studies and obtaining regulatory approvals. Besides supplying the vaccine within India, Hester intends to export it to African and Asian countries through its own distribution network.
Low Pathogenic Avian Influenza H9N2 Strain causes comorbidity in poultry flocks throughout the year, leading to huge economic losses to poultry farmers. The disease generally has a low mortality rate (up to 6 percent), but can increase significantly in the presence of other infections. It could also lead to an irreversible egg production drop (up to 50 percent) in layer birds and a performance loss in broilers.
