ECO Animal Health enters licensing deal with University of Georgia

(Sharecast News) - ECO Animal Health has entered into a licensing deal with the Poultry Diagnostic & Research Center of the College of Veterinary Medicine at the University of Georgia, it announced on Monday.The AIM-traded firm said the deal, at a cost of just over $1m in phased payments of eight quarterly instalments over a two-year period, would allow it to license research-related innovations leading to the development of potential vaccines in the field of Mycoplasma gallisepticum, a bacterium that can cause severe respiratory disease in poultry.It said a joint steering committee would meet monthly to review data, monitor progress and reach go or no-go decisions."Mycoplasma-related illnesses in poultry can be financially devastating to commercial poultry producers with global losses estimated at more than £500m annually," said ECO Animal Health Group chairman Peter Lawrence."We are delighted to have entered into this collaboration with UGA and expect that further innovative developments will follow."Professor Naola Ferguson-Noel, a researcher in the Poultry Diagnostic & Research Center, explained that although Mycoplasma control programs were often based on biosecurity, early detection, quarantine and elimination of positive flocks, vaccination could be a "very effective option" in some circumstances."I do think a vaccine is within reach," Ferguson-Noel said.