Intervac gets green light with funding injection

Source: Saskatchewan Agriculture and Food

A $24.7 million injection from the provincial government means the final piece of the puzzle is now in place for the University of Saskatchewan’s International Vaccine Centre, or InterVac, to move forward.

“It was the final stage of funding required to give the construction phase of the project a go,” said Paul Hodgson, the Associate Director of Business Development for the Vaccine and Infectious Disease Organization (VIDO), which is the primary collaborator in InterVac.

“For the future of InterVac, that amount of funding means it will actually go ahead. So it was absolutely ideal, and it’s what we needed to construct the facility.”

The total infrastructure cost for the project is estimated to be around $110 million.

InterVac is a state-of-the-art research and development centre that will develop vaccines to protect people and animals from the threat of emerging or persistent diseases such as avian influenza or tuberculosis. It will be the first Level 3 biosafety facility in Western Canada dealing with both human and large animal diseases.

“The biosafety rating refers to a different level of containment and security, because you don’t want to put your food supply at risk or anything like that,” explained Hodgson. “So our Level 3 rating means the facility will be extremely secure. We would potentially be able to look at things like HIV, for example, which is considered a Level 3 pathogen.”

What sets InterVac apart from similar facilities is its ability to incorporate large animals into its vaccine research and development. “We have the ability to work with agricultural pathogens or disease-causing organisms, but we can work with human pathogens to see if we have a model that is appropriate,” he said.

“So it’s important for the agricultural sector, and it’s important for the medical sector. This facility, and our work here, will be unique in the world.”

Hodgon noted that a lot of medical research used to be done on mice and rats. This posed some challenges, since discoveries made in mice and rats don’t always translate well into human health due to the vastly different physiologies, immune systems, living environments and diets between the two species. Nor do studies on rodents necessarily work well for larger animals like cattle and swine.

“As you move up the species chain into larger animals, the actual research becomes a bit more applicable to human diseases,” he said, noting that several more recent medical breakthroughs for people have been made using pigs for research.

In addition, illnesses like avian influenza are typical of many emerging diseases, in that they are directly linked to animals, but are now affecting human beings. Hodgson says this involves a field of research for which InterVac is perfectly positioned.

But the tremendous potential the facility holds is also relevant to the average agricultural producer. Hodgson emphasizes that the InterVac team’s relationship with farmers is always foremost in their minds.

“Ultimately, we hope InterVac is going to provide a competitive advantage for the Canadian agricultural industry, to reduce the farmer’s cost of production by developing vaccines of agricultural importance,” he said.

“So we’re looking at diseases of animals that are relevant in this day and age, and how our research can help combat them. Ultimately, we’re trying to help the producers reduce their costs and the mortality rates of their animals, and therefore increase their profits.”

Construction on the InterVac facility is expected to start this year. It is projected that the very detailed process of ensuring it meets Canadian Food Inspection Agency standards will take close to three years.

When all is said and done, Hodgson says Saskatchewan’s position as a global leader in infectious disease research, and biosecurity and research innovation will only be strengthened.

“InterVac, combined with VIDO and other institutes at the university like the Canadian Light Source Synchrotron, put us squarely in the forefront in these areas.”

For more information, contact:
Paul Hodgson, Associate Director, Business Development
Vaccine and Infectious Disease Organization
Phone: (306) 966-1523
E-mail: paul.hodgson@usask.ca