As part of its strategy to promote affordable vaccines and pharmaceutical products to poor livestock keepers, GALVmed is to be part of a task force led by AU/IBAR to facilitate the registration and commercialisation of the Muguga Cocktail (MC) vaccine for East Coast fever.
In partnership with representatives from AU/IBAR, PANVAC, Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania and Malawi, registration for the vaccine is progressing and it is hoped that registration for some, if not all of the four countries will be completed by the end of 2008.
GALVmed is committed to supporting improved control options for East Coast fever (ECF), a serious, often fatal disease of cattle that causes major economic losses in eastern, central and southern Africa.
With declining stocks of the MC vaccine, which had not been manufactured since 1996, the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI) manufactured a further 500,000 doses during 2007. However, with an urgent need to transfer vaccine manufacture and distribution to the private sector, AU-IBAR and GALVmed, along with other task force members, will facilitate an African-driven commercialisation process.
The task force has taken “interim ownership” of the ECF MC vaccine, until such time as formal ownership, which is currently in doubt, is clarified. Further research into a thermo-stable vaccine to transform delivery and uptake for ECF disease control will also be supported by GALVmed, through partnership with AU/IBAR and other relevant stakeholders.