If all goes as planned, you could be taking your cat to get a Covid-19 shot before the end of the year. Yes, a coronavirus shot for cats is in the works, - Forbes reports.
In November, a Covid-19 outbreak in Denmark’s vast mink farms led to the culling of more than 17 million of the ferret-like animals to halt the spread of a new mutated strain of the virus back to humans. Months earlier, the Bronx Zoo in New York made headlines when it revealed a tiger had tested positive for Covid-19. Since then, dozens of cats and dogs have been diagnosed with mild cases of the disease, in places ranging from Texas to Hong Kong. Now, two tiny biotech companies — one in Italy and the other in Long Island, New York — are working together on a Covid-19 vaccine for cats that could prevent reinfection from animals back to humans and soothe the fears of pet owners worldwide.
Developed by Italian startup Takis Biotech’s veterinary arm EvviVax, in partnership with New York-based Applied DNA Sciences, the vaccine will consist of two doses and will enter clinical trials on cats this month in New York. It’s based on the same technology used for Takis’ Covid-19 vaccine for humans, in development since early 2020, which uses fragments of DNA to produce proteins that induce an immune response against the virus. The trials are expected to last six months, with the goal of receiving approval from the U.S. Department of Agriculture by the summer.
The first animals to be inoculated with this vaccine will be cats. Most of the 54 cats in the U.S. diagnosed with Covid-19 have had mild symptoms ranging from sneezing to runny noses, compared to the high death rates in infected minks. Beyond protecting cats from infection, the primary objective is to prevent them from developing a mutant strain that could reinfect humans. While there haven’t been any cases of cats infecting humans with the virus, the potential for transmission still exists.
"I find it viscerally hard to believe that the cat sleeping at the foot of my bed, infected with Covid, does not provide a risk to humans somehow,” says Applied DNA Sciences CEO James Hayward, cautioning that there is still little reason for cat owners to worry about getting infected by their pets. “I don't think the notion of having a reservoir of the same virus that can infect and devastate humans in the household cat is a good concept. In the course of protecting domestic cats, we protect humans at the same time.”
Scientists are still studying the roots of the virus that causes Covid-19, with fruit bats suspected as the most likely origin for SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes the disease. Preventing any future infection from humans to other species and back, known as zoonotic transmission, is key to halting the spread of new mutant strains such as the one found in Danish minks.
“What happened with minks is that new variants of the virus emerged with mutations, and we don’t yet know if these mutations make the virus more contagious or stronger. Clearly the worry is that these new variants could be a threat to the immune system even after someone is vaccinated,” said Luigi Aurisicchio, CEO and chief scientific officer of Takis Biotech and its subsidiary EvviVax. “The trials we're doing with cats will also help us understand how we can rapidly respond to variants that emerge in animals."
Applied DNA and EvviVax are in talks with larger manufacturers to help produce more doses of the vaccine in anticipation of its approval. If approved by the USDA, it’s expected that cat owners could get their pets vaccinated at veterinary clinics by the fall of this year. Because the vaccine requires a complex delivery method called electroporation — using a brief pulse of electricity to allow the vaccine to enter cells more easily — it’s likely it will initially only be available at larger clinics with the right tools to administer it. It’s too soon to know what the vaccine will cost, but the companies expect it to be similar to getting a routine shot for your pet.
Beyond cats, the vaccine could be used for several other pets and animals, from rabbits, dogs and ferrets to minks and large cats — think lions and tigers — in zoos. Russia’s Federal Center for Animal Health is also working on a similar vaccine for pets and minks, with clinical trials set to conclude later this month with a goal of approval by Russia’s regulatory body in February.
Before culling all its mink, Denmark accounted for 40% of global mink fur production, a sizable stake in an industry worth an estimated $40 billion a year, according to the International Fur Federation. Mink farms in the U.S. and Europe are also struggling with their own Covid-19 outbreaks, with reports of the virus spreading to wild minks in Utah. A successful cat vaccine could eventually be used by the mink industry, providing a potentially lucrative customer base for Applied DNA and EvviVax, according to the two firms.
“This is an obvious next step," says Aurisicchio. "It could also make sense to vaccinate other animals like monkeys and gorillas, who can get infected just like humans do.”
