AQVac LLC
Aquaculture is the fastest growing food production sector in the world yet suffers 10% annual losses due to diseases (that’s ~$25 billion lost). Tools for control of these diseases are insufficient or too expensive. Efficacious and inexpensive solutions to address aquaculture disease are an industry priority. Our viral vector platform can be a solution – flexible and customizable to address finfish and crustacean diseases. It can be delivered orally to lower cost and make it more universally applicable to the industry.
The Problem
Aquaculture produces the majority of seafood consumed on the globe and is the fastest growing sector for food protein production. It is estimated that 10% of the seafood produced by the industry is lost to disease. Conversely, there is a strong effort to reduce the industry’s reliance on antibiotics driven by the impact of antibiotic resistance on human health. Vaccines have, historically, been able to drive down antibiotic use in aquacultured fish (i.e., salmon), however are only affordable for high value fish species. More flexibility and efficacy are needed for disease control in all sectors of the aquaculture industry.
The Solution
Applying modern biotechnology, a platform based on naturally occurring fish and crustacean viruses was developed to facilitate economical production, oral delivery, and improved efficacy of vaccines and therapeutics to fish and crustaceans. RNA viruses that infect fish and shrimp were engineered to allow the production of recombinant biologics in insect cells suitable for scale up and production. Our platform can produce virulent viruses capable of replication in the host species that can be used as inactivated vaccines. The platform also enables engineering viruses to deliver recombinant molecules (e.g., antigens and nucleic acids) that are useful as vaccines and therapeutics.
The Opportunity
The aquaculture vaccines market will reach $946.5 million by 2032. The majority of existing vaccines are injectable and only affordable for high value teleost fish such as salmon and trout. If sufficient efficacy can be achieved, our technology could displace part of the injectable vaccine market and expand the booster vaccines to extend the grow out period and allow larger fish at harvest. There are no suitable therapeutics for the crustacean market, which now relies on biosecurity to control disease – making it wide open for our solution to control diseases such as white spot syndrome and EHP.
Status
Our viral vector platform was validated in vivo for shrimp and in vitro for fish, while in vivo validation for fish is ongoing.
Meet the Team
Arun Dhar PhD
College of Agriculture, Life & Environmental Sciences
Tom Allnutt PhD
Steven Wood MS, MBA
Tech Launch Arizona
Contact us today.
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Aquaculture is the fastest growing food production sector in the world yet suffers 10% annual losses due to diseases (that’s ~$25 billion lost). Tools for control of these diseases are insufficient or too expensive. Efficacious and inexpensive solutions to address aquaculture disease are an industry priority. Our viral vector platform can be a solution – flexible and customizable to address finfish and crustacean diseases. It can be delivered orally to lower cost and make it more universally applicable to the industry.
