Hungarian consortium working on new viral therapy innovation against swine flu

By: STA Date: 2025. 03. 03. 09:00

A Hungarian consortium is working on a new viral therapy innovation against swine flu, which could save pig farmers from significant losses, one of the consortium members, Kéleshús Sertéstenyésztő és Hizlaló Kft., told MTI on Wednesday.

(Photo: Pixabay)

According to the announcement, the consortium consisting of Kéleshús Sertéstenyésztő és Hizlaló Kft., BIOLAB Diagnostic Laboratory Zrt. and the University of Szeged began 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 a grant of 798 million forints to finance 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 effective in protecting 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 related to the protection of the pig farming sector against the virus – they emphasized. According to the data available online, Kéleshús Sertéstenyésztő és Hizlaló Kft. generated a net sales revenue of 1.9 billion forints and a profit after tax of 41 million forints in 2023. In the previous business year, its net sales revenue was 951 million forints and its after-tax loss was 97 million forints.

MTI

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