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LONDON (Alliance News) - Frontier IP Group PLC said Wednesday its portfolio company Vaccine Group Ltd was awarded a GBP50,000 grant to develop anti-bacterial vaccine to fight mastitis in cows.
Vaccine Group received the grant from the global Bacterial Vaccine Network and will use the funds to conduct a study investigating whether it can produce a vaccine against the bacteria E.coli, one of the three main bacteria that causes bovine mastitis, a mammary gland infection.
Frontier, which focuses on university intellectual property commercialisation, said that Mastitis in cows currently costs the UK dairy industry GBP200 million a year as milk production and quality reduces drastically.
"An effective vaccine would remove the need for farmers to use antibiotics and cut the risk of the bacteria developing antibiotic resistance," the company explained.
Frontier Chief Executive Officer Neil Crabb said: "This award from a world-leading vaccinology network provides strong validation of the novel technology being developed by The Vaccine Group and its potential. We're delighted and look forward to the results of the proof-of-concept study and the opportunities they might provide for longer-term commercialisation."
Frontier shares were trading up 0.8% at 75.34 pence each.