Development of new vaccines to prevent cattle diseases and therefore avoid the use of antibiotics or to improve suboptimal available vaccines is now a European and industry priority.

Aquilón’s BVD new vaccine, based on proprietary Virus-Like Particle technology, will be a recombinant, non-live vaccine, poly-antigenic (covering type 1 and type 2 infections), with tagging attributes (DIVA, Differentiation of Vaccinated from Infected Animals); Bovine Viral Diarrhoea (BVD) is the most common viral disease, and the one with most economical and environmental impact in European bovine cattle breeding.

This unmet need and the significant burden leads to a transformative business opportunity for our company. SME Instrument Phase 2 grant will give us the opportunity of demonstrating the commercial-scale manufacturing and in vivo safety, efficacy and DIVA attributes in the target species. This vaccine candidate will be licensed to one or more veterinarian pharmaceutical company that will complete the final field studies required for commercialization.

The project is pivotal for the future of Aquilón, and therefore most of the resources of the company will be engaged in it. The project will involve a team with members at different levels of responsibility within the company, assisted by external advisors who are key opinion leaders in the BVDv field.