GAUTENG. – Qualifying private companies will be permitted to manufacture the Agricultural Research Council (ARC) mouth and foot disease vaccine on a large scale.
The ARC and its council unanimously approved a proposal on Monday from Willie Aucamp, minister of agriculture, to make the ARC's intellectual property available under licence to private companies. The decision is aimed at making more vaccine available while South Africa continues to manage the foot-and-mouth disease outbreak.
The ARC is currently unable to manufacture enough of its vaccine on a large scale due to manufacturing constraints. Private companies will therefore, under conditional licensing agreements, be able to use the ARC's technology and intellectual property to manufacture the vaccine themselves. This does not mean private companies will simply use the ARC's existing facilities. The ARC will meanwhile continue to expand its own manufacturing capacity.
Aucamp says the decision is an important step to increase vaccine availability and protect South Africa's livestock sector and food supply. Any income the ARC receives from the licensing agreements will, according to the department, be set aside and used only to expand the ARC's own manufacturing capacity. The ARC will also send mouth and foot disease virus samples currently found in South Africa to the Pirbright Institute in the United Kingdom in October for further vaccine matching tests. This will help determine scientifically how suitable local and imported vaccines are against the viruses currently present in South Africa.
Sources: South African Government News Agency, National Department of Agriculture
This article is an automatic English translation of a Nuusflits article originally published in Afrikaans. Read the Afrikaans original.
