Frontier IP, a specialist in commercialising intellectual property, is delighted to announce that a vaccine candidate to tackle Streptococcus suis (“S.suis”) in pigs developed by portfolio company The Vaccine Group (“TVG” or the “Company”) has outperformed a leading commercially available vaccine in challenge trials conducted by Moredun Scientific Limited (“MSL”).
The results follow the outstanding success of the Company’s bovine respiratory syncytial virus (“BRSV”) vaccine candidates in cattle announced in November 2025. In addition to demonstrating superior performance to an existing vaccine, the results provide further strong validation for the TVG’s technology because:
- they show TVG’s underlying bovine herpesvirus vaccine delivery platform is highly effective in animal species other than cattle
- the bovine herpesvirus platform is able to combat different pathogens and is effective against bacterial diseases, such as S.suis, as well as viral diseases such as BRSV
The trial also showed TVG’s vaccine is effective against different serotypes of the disease.
S.suis is an economically damaging pig disease that can jump to humans, causing meningitis, septicaemia and other symptoms. It is endemic in the global pig population, estimated at 780 million strong, and affects up to 60 per cent of European pig farms.
Highly respected, MSL is among the foremost Contract Research Organisations specialising in animal health and aquaculture in the UK.
TVG’s vaccine evolved from a collaboration with two Chinese academic institutions and the country’s Pulike Biological Engineering Company. Subsequent work was supported by further grant funding from Innovate UK. TVG has also entered a collaboration with leading Spanish animal health group Syva to develop a separate S.suis vaccine. Syva will have the option to license any vaccine developed via the collaboration.
The Company is now in talks with major animal health companies over commercial development of its BRSV vaccine candidates for use in cattle.
TVG chief executive officer Jeremy Salt said:
These results show how useful the BoHV-4 platform can be in delivering a wide range of efficacious vaccines for livestock. One of the key issues with control of S. suis infection is the ability to protect against multiple serotypes. In this study we have demonstrated clearly that our candidate vaccine has this ability.
Neil Crabb, Frontier IP chief executive, said:
We are delighted by these results, which follow the outstanding success of TVG’s BRSV vaccine candidates. It is now clear the technology has broad applicability across different animals and can be successful against both bacterial and viral diseases. The Company is now in good stead to find the right industry partners to bring its vaccines to market.