First of its Kind USDA Licensure Granted to Harrisvaccines for Herd Specific, Custom Vaccines, PEDv First Target

After nearly a decade of work, Harrisvaccines has been granted licensure of its Prescription Product, RNA Particle (RP) vaccine platform.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) has granted Harrisvaccines licensure of its Prescription Product, RNA Particle (RP) vaccine platform. This first-of-its-kind USDA license approves the innovative production platform and allows for the manufacturing of herd-specific, custom vaccines prescribed by a licensed veterinarian.

Baby Piglet

USDA photo by Scott Bauer.

According to Merck Animal Health, which recently acquired Harrisvaccines, the RP technology platform was instrumental in producing the first conditionally licensed vaccine to help control Porcine Epidemic Diarrhea Virus (PEDv). Since suddenly emerging in the United States in 2013, PEDv has killed more than eight million piglets. Vaccines can be made for swine, bovine, equine, avian, companion animal and farmed aquaculture diseases. Pathogens are collected from a farm and specific genes are sequenced and synthetically inserted into the platform creating RNA particles, making safe, potent vaccines able to provide herd-specific protection. The RP technology platform was also utilized to produce a conditionally licensed vaccine against H5 Avian Influenza, which was subsequently awarded a USDA Stockpile in October 2015.