€9m grant to develop parasitic disease vaccines

A Horizon 2020 grant of just under €9m has been awarded to the PARAGONE project, which will work towards developing vaccines to help control parasitic diseases of food animals.

A total of 17 international scientific and industrial partners will work on the project, which is being led by the Moredun Research Unit, Edinburgh, Scotland.

“Research groups across the EU and further afield have combined forces and expertise in understanding complex parasites and in developing solutions to control or prevent them,” scientific director Professor Julie Fitzpatrick commented.

She continued: “Funding from the EU’s Horizon 2020 programme will support a step-change in improving the health and welfare of ruminants and poultry affected by the most important diseases of food-producing species.”

Control of parasite infections currently relies almost entirely on anti-parasitic drugs, but this is not a particularly viable option given growing consumer concerns about chemical residues in food, as well as increasing drug resistance among parasites.

A more sustainable alternative, say scientists, is to develop vaccines that will help prevent disease and reduce the negative effects of parasite infection on food animals, thereby providing a safer and more environmentally friendly approach to disease control.

The EU funding is significant: only two commercial veterinary vaccines are available at present, and whilst a number of prototype multicellular parasite veterinary vaccines look promising, a number of obstacles remain in their development.