RCS - Frontier IP Group - TVG demonstrates success in animal trials

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RNS Number : 8167F  Frontier IP Group plc  03 November 2025

REACH - a non-regulatory announcement

AIM: FIPP

03 November 2025

 

Frontier IP Group plc

("Frontier IP" or the "Group")

 

 

Portfolio news - The Vaccine Group demonstrates outstanding success in animal
trials to address major global livestock disease

 

Frontier IP, a specialist in commercialising intellectual property, is
delighted to announce that two vaccine candidates developed by portfolio
company The Vaccine Group ("TVG" or the "Company") to tackle bovine
respiratory syncytial virus (BRSV) have delivered outstanding results in
cattle challenge trials conducted by the UK government's Animal and Plant
Health Agency.

BRSV is a highly contagious and economically damaging disease in both beef and
dairy herds. The Pirbright Institute has estimated the annual cost to British
farmers at £54 million, while the global figure could be as much as £5.6
billion*. It is a leading cause of bovine respiratory disease. Frontier IP
holds a 16.6 per cent equity stake in the Company, a spin out from the
University of Plymouth.

The results represent an important milestone for, and validation of, the
Company's bovine herpesvirus vaccine platform technology. They demonstrate for
the first time that the vaccine platform can safely prevent a global livestock
disease.

For the trials, calves treated with TVG's vaccines were infected with BRSV and
the results compared to a control group of infected, but unvaccinated, calves.
The vaccinated calves demonstrated immunity to the disease when measured by:

·    Clinical disease: the vaccines prevented the onset of clinical
disease with vaccinated calves showing no significant signs including elevated
temperatures compared to the control group

·    Virus shedding: the primary route of virus transmission for infected
animals is via nasal discharge; vaccinated animals had no detectable BRSV in
nasal swabs

·    Lung pathology: lungs in the unvaccinated calves suffered significant
lesions, while those in the vaccinated group had minimal changes.

Alongside its success in preventing the disease, TVG's technology offers also
offers a further advantage to current commercial vaccines. These use either
dead or modified versions of BRSV to stimulate an immune response.

When cattle give birth, they pass on maternal antibodies to their offspring to
protect them against diseases. However, those antibodies also prevent vaccines
based on dead or modified versions of BRSV being effective: the antibodies
react as though dead or modified versions of BRSV are the actual disease
rather than an innocuous substitute and eliminate the vaccine before it can
stimulate a protective immune response.

This means farmers need to wait for the impact of the maternally derived
antibodies to diminish over time before administering the vaccines to
stimulate the calves own immune response. There is a window of opportunity for
calves to become infected as the maternal antibody protection reduces but
before immunisation can occur - and a major reason why current vaccines prove
ineffective.

TVG's BRSV vaccines can be administered to very young animals, even in the
presence of maternal antibodies because the technology is different and based
on a novel bovine herpesvirus delivery platform.  TVG's vaccine candidates
represent an opportunity to provide protection against a major livestock
disease with important benefits that cannot be replicated by the current
incumbents.

Following the success of the trials, TVG is seeking to engage strategic
partners to further development of the vaccines.

 

Jeremy Salt, TVG CEO commented: "These results are a fantastic endorsement of
the platform that we use for vaccine development. A novel BRSV vaccine that
induces sterilising immunity in maternal antibody positive calves without
adding to the circulating BRSV strain pool is a market-leading product."

Frontier IP Chief Executive Officer Neil Crabb said: "On every metric, TVG's
BRSV vaccines have delivered exceptional results and provided strong
validation for the company's bovine herpesvirus vaccine delivery platform. We
now look forward to the next steps in the vaccines' progress to full
commercialisation and validation for the bovine herpesvirus platform in
different species."

 

 *The UK figure is from The Pirbright Institute. The global figure is
conservatively based on assumptions that the total cattle population is 1.5
billion; that there are 450 million bovine respiratory cases each year, of
which BRSV is responsible for 25 per cent at an average cost of £50 per cow.

 

ENQUIRIES

            Frontier IP Group Plc                                                   T: 020 7332 2338
            Neil Crabb, Chief Executive                                             neil@frontierip.co.uk

            Andrew Johnson, Communications and investor relations                   M: 07464 546 025

            andrew.johnson@frontierip.co.uk

            Company website: www.frontierip.co.uk (http://www.frontierip.co.uk/)
            Allenby Capital Limited (Nominated Adviser)                             T: 0203 328 5656
            Nick Athanas / Dan Dearden-Williams

 The Vaccine Group                                                                  Jeremy.salt@thevaccinegroup.co.uk
 Jeremy Salt, CEO

 

 

ABOUT FRONTIER IP

Frontier IP unites science, finance and industry by identifying strong
intellectual property and accelerating its development through a range of
commercialisation services. A critical part of the Group's work is involving
relevant industry partners at an early stage of development to ensure
technology meets real world demands and needs.

The Group looks to build and grow a portfolio of equity stakes and licence
income by taking an active involvement in spin-out companies, including
support for fund raising and collaboration with relevant industry partners at
an early stage of development.

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