E. Coli Vaccine One Step Closer to Approval

An E. coli vaccine for cattle is a bit closer to reality, following a United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) determination that Canada’s Bioniche Life Sciences Inc’s E. coli vaccine is eligible for a conditional license. The USDA said Bioniche’s E. coli vaccine “meets the ‘expectation of efficacy’ standard” making it eligible for a conditional license once it develops a plan to “collect sufficient data to move the product to full licensure.”

The Bioniche vaccine is the world’s first vaccine approved for use on on-farm intervention to reduce the amount of E. coli O157:H7 shed by cattle. Bioniche and collaborators have worked for eight years to make the vaccine commercially available, which included extensive testing at the University Nebraska-Lincoln.

“This is a large step forward for the E. coli O157:H7 vaccine,” said Graeme McRae, President and CEO of Bioniche. “The granting of a U.S. conditional license will permit U.S. beef and dairy producers access to a scientifically-validated means to reduce the risk of E. coli O157:H7 contamination.” Rick Culbert, President of Bioniche Food Safety, added, “There are an estimated 97 million cattle in the United States, many of which carry and shed E. coli O157:H7. We look forward to working with producers to implement vaccination as the first licensed on-farm intervention for E. coli risk reduction.”

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