ICAR develops bird flu vaccine

Scientists of the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) have succeeded in developing an indigenous vaccine against the dreaded bird flu disease which had surfaced in February last in Navapur and Jalgaon districts, creating a scare among the chicken and egg consumers, and causing huge economic losses to the poultry industry.

This feat has been achieved by scientists working at the Bhopal-based High Security Animal Disease Laboratory (HSADL) in a record time of four months under a Rs 8-crore project.

A formal announcement of the vaccine development was made by Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar in his address at the 77th annual general meeting of the ICAR Society here today.

ICAR Director-General Mangala Rai described this as a big step forward in tackling the highly pathogenic avian influenza, commonly called the bird flu.

"Viral disease such as avian influenza does not recognise boundaries. The development of an indigenous vaccine would go a long way in tackling it effectively," he said. Since the disease could possibly recur, further research would focus on developing another type of vaccine, he added.

The ICAR had decided to develop a "killed vaccine" against bird flu indigenously, immediately after the disease outbreak and had provided Rs 8 crore for this purpose. The HSADL is the only facility in the country capable of conducting tests for the H5N1 virus of bird flu.

Till now, the country has been importing the vaccine for this disease which has resulted in the death of several thousand birds and necessitated culling of more than 10 lakh chickens.

Rai informed the meeting that a comprehensive draft report had been submitted to an ICAR committee to develop guidelines for intellectual property management and commercialisation of technologies in the national agricultural system under the ICAR.

The report was prepared taking cognizance of the national and international legal frameworks in intellectual property management. It would be discussed in the forthcoming governing body meeting of the ICAR Society on September 19, 2006.

The committee was constituted in view of rapid developments in the areas of intellectual property rights, benefit sharing in agriculture, and increasing the role of the private sector in agricultural research and development.

It would facilitate sharing of gains from commercialisation of technologies in the ICAR system.