Arizona Partnership Opens Door For Food-Borne Illness Vaccine

By Andrew Bernier
Published: Thursday, April 30, 2015 - 2:34pm
Updated: Thursday, April 30, 2015 - 2:35pm
Audio icon Download mp3 (947.13 KB)
(Photo courtesy Anivax)
University of Arizona and Arizona State University partnered with Tucson-based biotech company Anivax.

A vaccine which may help improve the health of humans worldwide is moving from research to development because of a local partnership.

The University of Arizona and Arizona State University have partnered with Tucson-based biotech company Anivax on the licensing needed to develop a vaccine for a poultry-borne illness.

The vaccine is designed to combat campylobacter, a common bacterial infection in chickens passed onto humans. It causes gastrointestinal illness in 1.3 million people each year in the United States, resulting in more than a billion dollars in health-care costs.

UA discovered the antigens which combat the bacteria and ASU developed the vector, or delivery mechanism, to carry the antigen. Since each is a separate discovery, they both required their own intellectual property license to sign with Anivax to produce the vaccine.

Science