Private companies will be allowed to use the Agricultural Research Council’s intellectual property to manufacture its foot-and-mouth disease vaccine at scale, as government moves to increase local vaccine availability amid South Africa’s ongoing FMD outbreak.
By Maile Matsimela, digital editor at African Farming
Agriculture minister Willie Aucamp has announced a major shift in South Africa’s foot-and-mouth disease (FMD) response, with qualifying private companies set to assist in the large-scale production of the Agricultural Research Council’s (ARC) locally developed vaccine.
The proposal was unanimously approved by the ARC and its board on Monday, 21 September, according to a statement issued by the Department of Agriculture.
Under the plan, qualifying local and international companies will be able to manufacture the ARC vaccine through conditional intellectual property licensing agreements.
The department said the ARC vaccine provides protection against domestic FMD strains and requires only one administration a year. However, the ARC currently does not have sufficient manufacturing capacity to produce the vaccine at the scale required.
Aucamp said involving private manufacturers would help address this bottleneck while increasing the availability of locally developed vaccines.
“Partnering with the private sector to manufacture the ARC vaccine marks a decisive breakthrough in safeguarding South Africa’s livestock sector, strengthening national biosecurity and securing food supply chains,” he said.
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First-time access to ARC vaccine IP
The move follows calls from farmers and other agricultural stakeholders for faster action against the FMD outbreak, said Aucamp.
For the first time, private-sector manufacturers will be given access to the ARC’s intellectual property (IP) relating to the vaccine to help increase production and availability.
The arrangement will not replace the ARC’s own vaccine production programme. The council will continue rebuilding and expanding its internal FMD vaccine manufacturing capacity while third-party manufacturers assist with large-scale production. Revenue generated from licensing agreements will be ringfenced and used specifically to increase the ARC’s own FMD vaccine manufacturing capacity.
Aucamp cautioned that implementation would not happen immediately, but said the agreement represented an important step in strengthening the country’s response to FMD.
“Although the implementation of this decision will not happen overnight, it is a huge step forward in combating this FMD outbreak,” he said.
Also read: WATCH | Minister Willie Aucamp shares vision for South African agriculture at BFAP Baseline 2026
More vaccine testing planned
In a further development, the ARC will submit representative samples of FMD viruses currently circulating in South Africa to the Pirbright Institute in the United Kingdom in October for a second round of vaccine-matching assessments.
The testing will assess how well locally produced and imported vaccines match the FMD viruses currently circulating in South Africa.
The Department of Agriculture said it would continue working with commodity organisations, provincial veterinary services, the ARC, organised agriculture and other stakeholders to strengthen South Africa’s FMD control programme.
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