ICAR Develops Indigenous African Swine Fever Vaccine
05 August 2026, New Delhi: The Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) has developed India’s first indigenous MA-104 cell line-based live attenuated vaccine against African Swine Fever (ASF), a disease that has caused widespread losses to the country’s pig farming sector since its emergence in 2020.
African Swine Fever, caused by the African Swine Fever Virus (ASFV), is a highly contagious transboundary disease affecting domestic and wild pigs. The disease is characterised by high fever, haemorrhages and mortality rates that can approach 100%, making it one of the most damaging diseases for the global swine industry. There is no approved treatment for ASF, and disease control has primarily depended on rapid diagnosis, culling of infected animals and strict biosecurity measures.
India reported its first ASF outbreak in 2020, after which the disease spread across several states and union territories. The outbreaks have resulted in large-scale pig mortality, restrictions on animal movement and trade, and substantial economic losses, particularly among smallholder pig farmers in the North-Eastern region.
According to the Government of India, the initial ASF outbreaks in Assam during 2020 and 2021 caused estimated losses of around ₹276 crore due to pig deaths and culling. In Mizoram, the disease reportedly affected more than 11,382 households by 2025, with financial losses estimated at approximately ₹982 crore.
Scientists at the ICAR–National Institute of High Security Animal Diseases (ICAR-NIHSAD), Bhopal, developed the vaccine using a novel attenuated ASFV Genotype II virus with specific gene deletions in the MA-104 cell line. The institute said the platform is suitable for large-scale vaccine production.
The vaccine has undergone laboratory evaluation covering sterility, purity, safety, genetic stability, immunogenicity, protective efficacy and virulence reversion studies. It was also field validated in collaboration with the Department of Animal Husbandry & Dairying (DAHD), Ministry of Fisheries, Animal Husbandry & Dairying, Government of India.
The vaccine is intended for healthy pigs above eight weeks of age. It is administered as a 1 mL intramuscular injection, followed by a booster dose 14 days after the initial vaccination.
ICAR expects the vaccine to help reduce pig mortality, limit economic losses from ASF outbreaks and improve the resilience of India’s pig farming sector by providing an indigenous preventive tool against the disease.
Dr. M.L. Jat, Secretary, Department of Agricultural Research and Education (DARE) and Director General, ICAR, said the development reflects India’s growing capability to develop indigenous animal health technologies and could support future advances in livestock disease preparedness and biosecurity.
The institute noted that only a limited number of commercially licensed ASF vaccines are currently available globally, with Vietnam among the few countries where such vaccines have been commercialised. Unlike those vaccines, which are produced using patented proprietary cell lines, the ICAR-NIHSAD vaccine uses the widely available MA-104 cell line. According to ICAR, this approach removes dependence on proprietary manufacturing platforms, supports large-scale production and has the potential to reduce manufacturing costs.
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