A Hungarian consortium is working on a new viral therapy innovation against swine flu

According to the announcement, the consortium consisting of Kéleshús Sertéstenyésztő és Hizlaló Kft., BIOLAB Diagnostic Laboratory Zrt. and the University of Szeged, started developing a validated pig technology model in January, which proves that the antiviral superinfection technology already safely used in humans may also be suitable for treating pig viruses. The National Research Development and Innovation Fund provided HUF 798 million in funding for the development.

Swine influenza (SIV) causes significant economic losses to pig farmers, primarily due to weight loss and slowed weight gain of infected pigs. A new virus variant may appear in pigs at any time, which may even pose a threat to humans – they wrote.

The new technological process resulting from the project will also be able to effectively protect against swine influenza and swine circovirus. The immune system support process (immune booster) increases the innate responsiveness of pigs during various ongoing viral infections. The solution introduces a new approach to vaccines spread abroad, which improves the conditions of animal husbandry by reducing the costs associated with virus protection in the pig farming sector – they emphasized.