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Frontier IP company lands £400,000 government grant

Last updated: 03:04 25 Jan 2019 EST, First published: 22:04 24 Jan 2019 EST

pigs through a fence
The jab will combat an emerging antibiotic-resistant disease able to jump from pigs to humans

Frontier IP Group Plc (LON:FIPP) said one of its investee companies has landed a £403,000 government grant.

The cash received by The Vaccine Group is part of a £1.46mln Anglo-Chinese project to combat an emerging antibiotic-resistant disease able to jump from pigs to humans with potentially fatal effect.

READ: Frontier IP portfolio firm Exscientia unveils collaboration with Roche as it raises US$26mln in funding round

Funded by the Department of Health and Social Care and administered by Innovate UK, the initiative will develop TVG's herpesvirus-based technology to create a single-use vaccine to innoculate pigs.

Work will be undertaken by the Shanghai Veterinary Research Institute at the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Science and the Shanghai Jiao Tong University.

A major producer of swine and poultry vaccines, the Pulike Biological Engineering Company, is the commercial partner.

The vaccine will target a bacterium called Streptococcus suis, or S.suis, which can cause meningitis, blood poisoning, or septicaemia, as well as many other serious diseases in humans.

Incidents have been rising globally and in Asia it is now classified as an emerging threat.

The condition is currently treated with antibiotics, but there is growing evidence that S.suis is becoming resistant to them.

The Vaccine Group is a University of Plymouth spin-out was founded by Dr Michael Jarvis, Associate Professor of Immunology and Virology at the university's Institute of Translational and Stratified Medicine.

Frontier, which backs early stage, innovative businesses, holds a 19.2% stake.