Indian Immunologicals ventures into fish vaccines

Indian Immunologicals has partnered with the Central Institute of Fisheries Education (CIFE), Mumbai, an Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) Institute, for the commercial development of vaccine against common bacterial diseases in freshwater fishes. The company forayed into aqua business in October 2022 by launching products for aquaculture health market dealing with pond management and fish or shrimp gut management, a statement from Indian Immunologicals notified.

Dr K Anand Kumar, Managing Director, Indian Immunologicals, said in the statement, “IIL has introduced several innovative veterinary vaccines first to the world, like Porcine Cysticercosis vaccine, FMD+HS+BQ combination vaccine and Theileria vaccine. IIL is again the first in India to get to fish vaccines. We are committed to introducing more and more products for the aquaculture market and help shrimp and fish growers to increase their productivity and protect fish schools from various diseases.”

CIFE will provide technology for two inactivated bacterial vaccines, one for columnaris disease, a serious condition affecting numerous freshwater fish species, and other for Edwardsiellosis that causes high degree of mortality, leading to severe economic losses, according to the statement.

Further, the statement mentioned that aquaculture in India suffers economic losses due to infections caused by several bacterial, viral, fungal and other aetiological agents. Currently, these infections are being managed by anti-infectives and other conventional measures with varying degree of success. With the rising concern pertaining on Anti-Microbial Resistance (AMR) and chemical-free food products, both at global and domestic platforms, there is a growing need for better control measures against these infections.

Aquaculture sectors play a vital role in meeting the rising global protein demand as world population is expected to reach 9.8 billion by 2050. India is the third largest fish producer in the global sphere and more than 65 per cent of India’s fish is through Inland Fisheries and aquaculture. In terms of employment, the sector supports the livelihood of more than 28 million people in India, especially the marginalised and vulnerable communities, the statement concluded.