National Wildlife Research Center (NWRC)

Development of Injectable and Oral Contraceptive Technologies and Their Assessment for Wildlife Population and Disease Management

AdjuVac™

A typical disease vaccine primes the immune system to be on the alert for an infection caused by organisms with properties similar to those of the vaccine. Antibodies to the disease may be few in number or absent until the infection occurs. The infection then serves as a booster that stimulates an immediate immune response, protecting the vaccinated animal. For an immunocontraceptive vaccine to be effective, however, it must continually produce a high contraceptive antibody titer, so the booster effect must come from a different, non-disease mechanism—the adjuvant.

NWRC has modified and tested a USDA-approved Johne’s vaccine called Mycopar™.  Mycopar™ is approved for use in food animals by APHIS. The new adjuvant, which NWRC scientists have named AdjuVac™, contains a small quantity of M. avium, a common, generally nonpathogenic bacterium found in many species of domesticated and wild animals. NWRC scientists are testing AdjuVac™ in numerous wildlife species and it appears to be an effective adjuvant for contraceptive vaccines. The GnRH vaccine GonaCon/AdjuVac™, developed by NWRC, has a USDA/APHIS patent-pending status.

The success of the single-injection GonaCon™ contraceptive vaccine is due to the unique design of the GnRH/mollusk conjugate in combination with NWRC's newly developed adjuvant, AdjuVac™. Scientists at NWRC have spent 12 years developing the single-injection GonaCon™ vaccine, which will not be available commercially until it receives EPA approval. The adjuvant portion of the vaccine, however, is available to immunologists and biomedical researchers at a very reasonable price.  Scientists are convinced that this adjuvant, which can only be used for research animals, will improve the immune response of almost any antigen.

For pricing and additional information about AdjuVac™ adjuvant, please contact the USDA Pocatello Supply Depot, 238 East Dillon, Pocatello, Idaho 83201 (telephone 208-236-6920).

Project Home Page
Project Goals and Objectives
Accomplishments
Publications
GonaCon™
GnRH Immunocontraception (Technical Discussion)
Adjuvant Development (Technical Discussion)
Conjugate Design (Technical Discussion)
Nicarbazin
Diazacon
PZP