ECO Animal Health enters licensing deal with University of Georgia
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ECO Animal Health has entered into a licensing deal with the Poultry Diagnostic & Research Center of the College of Veterinary Medicine at the University of Georgia, it announced on Monday.
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The AIM-traded firm said the deal, at a cost of just over $1m in phased payments of eight quarterly instalments over a two-year period, would allow it to license research-related innovations leading to the development of potential vaccines in the field of Mycoplasma gallisepticum, a bacterium that can cause severe respiratory disease in poultry.
It said a joint steering committee would meet monthly to review data, monitor progress and reach go or no-go decisions.
“Mycoplasma-related illnesses in poultry can be financially devastating to commercial poultry producers with global losses estimated at more than £500m annually,” said ECO Animal Health Group chairman Peter Lawrence.
“We are delighted to have entered into this collaboration with UGA and expect that further innovative developments will follow.”
Professor Naola Ferguson-Noel, a researcher in the Poultry Diagnostic & Research Center, explained that although Mycoplasma control programs were often based on biosecurity, early detection, quarantine and elimination of positive flocks, vaccination could be a “very effective option” in some circumstances.
“I do think a vaccine is within reach,” Ferguson-Noel said.