USDA-approved prescription platform creates new opportunity for producers and veterinarians to proactively address emerging and constantly-changing viruses affecting animal health.
Medgene Labs, a vaccine and immunological services provider based in Brookings, SD, has received regulatory approval for their prescription platform swine vaccines from the USDA Center for Veterinary Biologics (CVB).
As one of the first companies to bring prescription platform vaccines to market, Medgene Labs is now able to provide swine producers and their veterinarians with vaccines that target a wide variety of the most economically significant diseases facing the industry.
“We have worked closely with leading veterinarians to develop and test vaccines for animals from our prescription platform technology. This approach will change the way veterinarians and producers think about vaccines as a tool for disease management, especially for emerging and constantly-changing viruses,” stated Chief Executive Officer, Mark Luecke.
Prescription platform vaccines are particularly effective when used to address viral pathogens that are hard to grow in a lab or that mutate rapidly, where conventional vaccines struggle.
Medgene Labs prescription platform has been field-tested to be an excellent fit for diseases like rotavirus, which is a widespread cause of diarrhea in baby pigs. This disease is incredibly difficult for swine producers to control.
“I have been working with Medgene Labs to evaluate their prescription platform vaccines. We have seen some extremely difficult rotavirus situations in herds and have been very pleased with the outcomes of the trials we have completed with Medgene Labs in those herds,” indicated Dr. Allan Carlson, Senior Veterinary Consultant at Standard Nutrition.
“We have been working on this breakthrough system for animal vaccine development for over ten years. Our technology and approach to addressing constantly-changing viruses is different from traditional vaccines because it is a platform system based on the use of specific protective proteins. Using this platform, the protein stimulates a targeted antibody response in the animal very efficiently,” stated Chief Technology Officer, Alan Young, Ph.D.
Young adds, “The Medgene Labs' process doesn’t require the use of animals or the live virus itself to make a vaccine. We are able to receive a gene sequence in an e-mail, insert that sequence into our prescription platform, and grow the proteins required to stimulate an immune response in a bioreactor. This enables us to produce and deliver a specific vaccine in a matter of days or weeks.”
Medgene Labs is continuing to work with the CVB on the process of licensing additional prescription platforms and enabling products, including additional adjuvants for swine and cattle, rabbit hemorrhagic disease in rabbits, epizootic hemorrhagic disease in deer and COVID-19 in mink.
“We are excited to receive our first approval for our prescription platform swine vaccines from the USDA-CVB. This is the first of several platforms we have been working closely with them on to address the many diverse challenges facing veterinarians and producers today. It is an exciting time to be a technology leader in this industry as we work to bring the next evolution in vaccine technology to the market,” adds Luecke.
About Medgene Labs
Medgene Labs is the world’s leading Immunological Services ProviderTM. As an Immunological Services Provider, Medgene Labs monitors the production environment for new viruses, continuously updates its virus sequence and vaccine construct bank to rapidly address production health risks, and then serologically monitors vaccinated animals for effectiveness. Medgene Labs provides these immunological services to its ISPRIME® community of leading livestock producers and their veterinarians in support of delivering consistent and reliable health management tools.
Medgene Labs’ prescription platform is delivered through ISPRIME®, which is a service developed to proactively address emerging and constantly-changing viruses in the community. Using next generation diagnostics through veterinary diagnostic laboratories, Medgene Labs partners with our customers to monitor the ever-changing viruses in swine herds and develop up-to-date vaccines that set a new standard in herd health management. The process begins by discovering a unique viral sequence or gene of interest from a producer’s herd through collaboration with the herd veterinarian and the diagnostic laboratory and progresses to the development of a vaccine that matches that viral sequence without having to grow the virus itself. This collaborative process ensures that swine producers can get a vaccine that precisely meets their needs in days or weeks instead of years.