Gandhinagar: Gujarat headquartered Hester has signed two agreements with ICAR-IVRI (Indian Council of Agricultural Research – Indian Veterinary Research Institute),for acquiring technologies for the production and commercialisation of the following vaccines:

1. Classical Swine Fever Vaccine

2. Sheep Pox Vaccine

These vaccines are the first that have been developed within the country by using locally isolated strains, a step towards making India self-sufficient, Atmanirbhar, for the country’s requirement of Classical Swine Fever Vaccine and Sheep Pox Vaccine.

The agreements were signed on 26 March 2021, followed with a virtual ceremony that took place on 7 April 2021. The technologies were developed by ICAR-IVRI and the commercialization of the technologies was facilitated by Agrinnovate India, a company owned by Department of Agricultural, Research & Education (DARE), Ministry of Agriculture, Government of India.

Both the vaccines have been extensively tested by IVRI for safety and potency and have been found to provide 100% protection.

Classical Swine Fever Vaccine has been found to induce protective immunity up to 24 months. Sheep Pox Vaccine has been found to induce protective immunity up to 48 months.

The vaccines hope to prevent economic losses in swine and sheep farming in India.

Hester in a statement said it is company’s endeavour to produce good quality vaccines, at low cost in order to enable the immunisation of animals against these diseases.

Hester has targeted to launch both the vaccines commercially in approximately 8 months.

The swine population in India is estimated to be 9.06 million (90 lacs).The sheep population in India is estimated to be 74.26 million (7.42 crores).With a focus on livestock as a source of income, the over-all population of swine and sheep is expected to grow rapidly thereby increasing the demand for vaccines.

Classical Swine Fever

Classical Swine Fever is one of the most impacting diseases in swine, causing high mortality with heavy financial losses to swine farmers.

Sheep Pox

Sheep pox is a severe viral disease in sheep which economically impacts small ruminant farmers. The mortality rate in a susceptible population of sheep may reach up to 50% in adults and 100% in the young stock. Morbidity rate can reach up to 100%.