Sheep and Goat Brucellosis: Only Six Months Left to Enter the Brucellosis Vaccine Prize

Animal health laboratories around the world, encouraged to develop a vaccine against brucellosis in sheep and goats, have until November 18, 2017, to submit their applications. The first phase of the Brucellosis Vaccine Prize, a competition launched last November, has reached the halfway point. There is still time to enter for a chance to win one of the ten $100,000 prizes awarded in the first year to the top candidates in this competition, which has a total prize pool of $30 million. The goal, within the next ten years or so, is to reduce the incidence of brucellosis—a zoonosis that continues to spread in developing countries where it is endemic—or even to eradicate it, in order to improve the living conditions of small ruminant herders. Furthermore, controlling the infection in animals is the best way to prevent human brucellosis (500,000 cases per year).   The goal of the Brucellosis Vaccine Prize is to encourage the development of an effective, safe, and viable vaccine against Brucella melitensis in small ruminants, intended for use in developing countries. Over the past 70 years, little significant progress has been made in the field of brucellosis vaccination in sheep and goats, largely due to a lack of funding; hence the creation of this prize, which aims to stimulate innovation in vaccine research and fund its development. Brucellosis is a costly and devastating zoonotic disease that affects more than 500 million smallholder farmers worldwide each year and results in approximately $640 million in annual losses (decreased productivity, abortions, infertility, mortality, etc.). The first phase of the competition, which offers ten prizes of $100,000 each, began on November 18, 2016. Applicants wishing to take on the challenge of controlling this endemic disease have until November 18, 2017, to submit their technical proposals online*. All private-sector companies are eligible to compete (pharmaceutical, animal husbandry, biotechnology, and animal health companies), as well as academic and research institutions. This type of incentive prize, being tested for the first time in animal health, has been used successfully in other fields such as crop production. The winning vaccine must meet the criteria of a minimum viable product (MVP) and, ideally, overcome the constraints that hinder the efficacy and safety of current brucellosis vaccines in developing countries. It must immunize goats and sheep against Brucella melitensis, protect more than 80% of vaccinated animals, cause no more than 5% of abortions, require only one annual vaccination, be affordable, have a long shelf life, and so on. To claim the $20 million grand prize at the end of the final phase, the winning vaccine must meet the MVP requirements and also obtain regulatory approval in the European Union, Japan, the United States, Canada, or Australia. In addition, an additional $5 million prize will be awarded to the vaccine that meets the MVP requirements as well as at least one of the criteria for the “best-in-class prize.” This prize, awarded one year after the grand prize, will go to the winning vaccine, which must provide protection against B. melintensis in small ruminants and B. abortus in cattle, be inactivated, withstand a temperature of 45 °C for three weeks, or have a therapeutic effect on infected animals. The competition is funded by AgResults**, an organization created through a collaboration between the governments of Australia, Canada, the United Kingdom, the United States, and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, with the goal of finding innovative, private-sector solutions to address challenges in the developing world. The project is managed by the Global Alliance for Livestock Veterinary Medicines (GALVmed).   * The contest rules are available at www.brucellosisvaccine.org; for more details, visit [email protected] ** AgResults, http://agresults.org/en/316/Brucellosis-Vaccine-Pilot