Hester has signed two agreements with ICAR-IVRI (Indian Council of Agricultural Research – Indian Veterinary Research Institute) for the production and commercialisation of animal vaccines - Classical Swine Fever and Sheep Pox. 

These vaccines are the first that have been developed within the country by using locally isolated strains, a step towards making India Aatmanirbhar, for the country’s requirement of Classical Swine Fever Vaccine and Sheep Pox Vaccine.

The technologies were developed by ICAR-IVRI and the commercialization of the technologies was facilitated by Agrinnovate India, a company owned by Department of Agricultural, Research & Education (DARE), Ministry of Agriculture, Government of India.

Both the vaccines have been extensively tested by IVRI for safety and potency and have been found to provide 100% protection.

Classical Swine Fever Vaccine has been found to induce protective immunity up to 24 months whereas Sheep Pox Vaccine has been found to induce protective immunity up to 48 months. The vaccines hope to prevent economic losses in swine and sheep farming in India.

It is Hester’s endeavour to produce good quality vaccines, at low cost in order to enable the immunisation of animals against these diseases. Hester has targeted to launch both the vaccines commercially in approximately 8 months.

The swine population in India is estimated to be 9.06 million and sheep population in India is estimated to be 74.26 million. With a focus on livestock as a source of income, the over-all population of swine and sheep is expected to grow rapidly thereby increasing the demand for vaccines.