VIROGEN HATCHES NEW POULTRY VACCINE

By Andrea Frazeur

Elk River, Minn. -- Dr. Jamil Ahmad not only counts his chickens before they're hatched, he vaccinates them.

Ahmad has developed a revolutionary vaccine against Newcastle Disease, a highly contagious and fatal viral infection affecting poultry and wild birds. Now his in ovo -- in the egg -- vaccine against Newcastle Disease is launching a new Minnesota biopharmaceutical company, ViroGen.

Originally from Pakistan, Ahmad was completing his doctorate in avian viral immunology at the University of Minnesota when he made the breakthrough in 1992. The U of M, which holds the vaccine patent, agreed to grant exclusive manufacturing and worldwide marketing rights to ViroGen, founded in 1995.

A fatal disease
Worldwide, poultry industry losses to Newcastle Disease are estimated in the billions of dollars each year.

The last year Minnesota had a Newcastle Disease scare was 1992, the same year Ahmad developed his vaccine. Wildlife staff confirmed cases of Newcastle disease in migratory double-crested cormorants throughout the upper Midwest and in four of the five Great Lakes. A flock of free-range turkeys in North Dakota also contracted the disease that year.

In 1995, Canada had confirmed cases of Newcastle Disease, and an outbreak in California this summer bears witness that Newcastle is an ongoing threat.

In the United States, federal and state agencies work together to contain outbreaks of Newcastle Disease. Once a flock is diagnosed with the disease, all sick birds must be killed, the flock quarantined, and all buildings disinfected. Veterinarians also report all outbreaks to the International Office of Epizootic Diseases.

Currently, most poultry producers vaccinate day-old chicks against Newcastle Disease by putting a weak form of the virus in their drinking water or by spraying chicks with the vaccine. Not only must this be repeated in two weeks, but some researchers believe this method causes respiratory problems and low weight gain.

An alternative is to vaccinate chicks with a modified live virus at two weeks of age. This process is labor intensive -- each chick must be manually caught and injected -- and stressful to the chick.

Ahmad created his vaccine by manipulating a Newcastle Disease virus gene to make it nontoxic to unhatched chickens. Three days before hatching, the embryos are injected straight through the shell. Seven to 14 days after hatching, the chicks have developed complete immunity to Newcastle Disease, as demonstrated by challenge tests with a virulent form of the virus.

Injecting new jobs into Minnesota
Ahmad shared the results of his work with colleague Dr. Maxwell Khondowe, a veterinarian who emigrated from Zambia. Khondowe suggested they form a company to market the vaccine.

The two asked three other individuals to join them: Earl Johnson, an architect with 34 years of experience in design and construction for biomedical, food and electronic industries; Dr. William Maher, a Minneapolis-based private veterinary practitioner who retired in 1994; and Stephen Smith, a senior partner of nationally renowned law firm Doherty, Rumble and Butler.

"This is a team approach," Johnson says. "We all bring something different to the table."

The young company first heard of AURI through Bill Stoll, who has an office at the U of M-St. Paul campus. Working through AURI's Waseca office, ViroGen obtained funding to help license, manufacture and market its product line in North America and eventually worldwide.

"ViroGen will create high-tech jobs for rural Minnesota," says Joan Conway, program specialist at AURI's Waseca office. "They will use cutting edge biotechnology techniques to lower production costs and bring healthier poultry products to the consumer."

ViroGen plans to set up a 5,000-square-foot facility in Elk River, creating 12 to 15 new jobs in its first two years of operation.

Pierced eggs
The vaccine is given to chicken embryos by an automated machine called the Inovoject^®Egg Injection System. Manufactured and marketed by Embrex, Inc. of Morrisville, N.C., this vaccine delivery system injects up to 40,000 eggs per hour. The machine drills a tiny hole and inserts a needle into each egg. The vaccine is injected directly into the embryo or the membrane surrounding it.

The major advantage of ViroGen's vaccine technology over the current method of vaccinating against Newcastle Disease, Khondowe says, is that the broiler chick will receive "a single, precise and protective dose of the vaccine, three to four days prior to hatching."

The U.S. broiler egg market is approaching 10 billion eggs annually. (Broilers are chickens butchered at six to eight weeks of age.) Currently, 75 percent of U.S. broiler eggs are vaccinated in ovo for Marek's Disease, another viral infection of poultry. ViroGen intends to target producers already using the Inovoject system.

In addition to AURI financing, ViroGen anticipates financial support from the Anoka/Sherburne County Capitol Fund, the City of Elk River and the Central Minnesota Initiative Fund, among others. The company is also working with Genesis Business Centers, the Department of Trade and Economic Development and Minnesota Project Innovation. The U of M College of Veterinary Medicine Extension Service will provide technical assistance.

"This is a challenge that with time will actually help a lot of people in the world," Maher says. "We want to make our mark on the world. If we can accomplish this ... we have done something important."