Recognition of a History of Hard Work and Dedication to Science

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NRCC (Canada), INTA, and Bioinnovo were awarded in the “Concurso Soluciones Innovadoras EMPRETEC BNA 2024”, for the development of an innovative vaccine for preventing the aphthous fever.

Among more than 1,500 applicants, the project developed jointly by the National Research Council of Canada (NRCC) and the National Agricultural Technology Institute  (INTA), currently led and financed by Bioinnovo, won the 15th edition of the Contest of Soluciones Innovadoras Banco Nación, organized by the Empretec Foundation.

This award emphasizes the development of FMDVAX, an innovative vaccine for preventing aphthous fever that uses empty capsids and synthetic recombinant genes, eliminating the need for infectious material. This allows its production in factories without extreme biosafety requirements, and enables exports to markets that require exotic strains, in addition to improving the responsiveness to outbreaks.

“This is a safe, effective solution with the prospect to place itself as one of the best vaccines available worldwide”, explained Andrés Wigdorovitz, Scientific Director and founder of Bioinnovo, the public-private company of INTA and Vetanco, which nowadays supervises and continues to develop FMDVAX.

In the last two years of work, Bioinnovo was able to validate the technology developed on a pre-industrial scale, prepare the necessary documentation for its log, and collaborate with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Nation to launch FMDVAX globally.

“All of these efforts will hopefully bring the technology to the commercial launch stage within 2-4 years, and with a product that is innovative, safe, and as effective as the best vaccines currently available”, added Wigdorovitz.

At the same time, Jorge Winokur, President of Bioinnovo and Vetanco, declared: “From Bioinnovo and its commercial associate Vetanco, we continue to invest in biosecure vaccine platforms to supply the world in the control of outbreaks of exotic variants. This policy for safe materials handling is accompanied by the Biotech platform products for mucosal immunity and the Vedevax line of targeted vaccines. For this reason, it is both important and synergistic for us.” He added: “We are proud to have a committed team of researchers, innovators, and technicians.”

Andrés Wigdorovitz, Lautaro Bracco, and Marianela Dalghi (Bioinnovo), Valeria Quattrocchi and Juan Bidart (IVIT).

Ives Durocher, Director of Research, National Research Council of Canada.

It is worth mentioning the jurors of the Contest who chose Bioinnovo’s development: Daniel Tillard (Director of Banco Nación Argentina), accompanied by: Alan Plummer (Entrepreneurial Development, SME Secretariat of the Ministry of Economy), Ezequiel Mesquita (Direction of Productive Policies, Government of the City of Buenos Aires), Graciela Ciccia (INSUD Group and UIA), Catalina Mamani (Explorer Latam VC and UTN Tucumán), Claudio Cocconi (Incubando Salud), Paula Monteleone (Open Future Argentina) and Cintia Hernández (Secretariat of Science and Technology, IUDPT).

“This award not only recognizes a scientific-technological breakthrough but also the effort of teamwork and commitment to create solutions with a positive impact worldwide”, Winokur concluded.