A review of vaccine development and research for industry animals in Korea

Lee, Nak-Hyung; Lee, Jung-Ah; Park, Seung-Yong; Song, Chang-Seon; Choi, In-Soo; Lee, Joong-Bok

In general, vaccines are produced by several different methods including inactivation or attenuation of the pathogen, alteration of host-specificity for the pathogen, use of immunogenic components alone, insertion of a gene of interest into a carrier vehicle to be delivered or expressed [9] , and production of virus-like particle (VLP) without specific genetic ma-terials. Interestingly, there are overwhelming advantages in developing animal vaccines in contrast to human vaccine development. One of the most evident advantages is the relative low cost for conducting research and development for animal vaccines as compared with human vaccines. Additionally, there is less regulation on development of animal vaccines and clinical trials than those of human vaccines, since clinical trials for animal vaccines are allowed without preclinical phases that are mandatory steps for developing human vaccines. As a consequence, final animal vaccine products can readily be commercialized within a short period of time. Nevertheless, a smaller profit from the sector of animal vaccines is anticipated due to the lower price of the products and the smaller market, unlike of the human vaccine industry. Animal vaccines currently account for less than one fourth of the global market for animal health products [5] . However, the vaccine production industry has steadily grown because of the increasing demands for new animal vaccines against various pathogens re-emerging in industry animals. Accordingly, the number of licensed animal vaccines for livestock and companion animals has increased over the decade. To make new animal vaccines successful in the market, various factors should be considered during the comprehensive research and analysis on the particular disease. These include demand of commercial products, regional demand, and global prospects for marketing the vaccine.