Dalan Animal Health is working to sell its bee vaccines to commercial beekeepers and governments – and potentially expand to other invertebrates.



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How do you vaccinate a honeybee? And will beekeepers care enough to do it?



Those are the questions Annette Kleiser has been wrestling since founding Dalan Animal Health in 2018. Five years after launching the startup, the government approved an oral vaccine her team created that’s designed for the world’s beekeepers to feed to worker bees, which then feed it to their queens in royal jelly. The result, strangely enough, is immunity for the queen’s offspring. Now, she’s on a mission to get as many bees vaccinated as she can — helping to safeguard not only the hives but the crops that they pollinate.



“We know that the loss of insects is dramatic for this world,” Kleiser said. “We cannot survive on this planet or anywhere else without insects.”



The Dalan vaccine defends against a devastating bacterial disease aptly named American Foulbrood, and Kleiser sees it as a first step toward keeping the roughly 3 million honeybee colonies in the U.S. healthy. It’s not the only disease bees can suffer from; about 50% of colonies and millions of bees die each year from a variety of ailments, including a nasty parasite called the varroa mite, pesticide poisoning, inadequate nutrition and the stress of traveling around the country to pollinate crops. Those are devastating numbers for beekeepers: “Imagine a cattle farmer losing 30 to 50% of their cattle each year,” said Matt Mulica, a senior project director at the Keystone Policy Center, which facilitates the Honey Bee Health Coalition. “How do you combat that?”



Kleiser and her team at Athens, Georgia-based Dalan Animal Health believe specially designed bee vaccines are an important tool in keeping more bees alive, enabling commercial beekeepers (who may have some 5,000 to 30,000 colonies) to continue bringing them around the country so they can pollinate crops like almonds, blueberries, cucumbers and apples.



“If you have an outbreak [of American Foulbrood], the spores have such resiliency that the recommended treatment is to kill all the bees and burn all the hives,” said Tom Chi, founder of At One Ventures, who invested in a $3.6 million seed round in summer 2022 as Dalan was taking its vaccine against American Foulbrood through clinical trials. “It’s catastrophic if you get it.”



Kleiser, who has a Ph.D. in neurophysiology from the Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich, discovered the research that would lead her to bee vaccines when she was working to help universities transform academic work into businesses. While visiting the University of Helsinki, she met Estonian biologist and zoologist Dalial Freitak, who had an unorthodox idea: to inject an inactivated bacteria into a queen to improve the hive’s overall resilience to disease. Insects and other invertebrates don’t have antibodies like humans and other mammals do, so the traditional way of creating vaccines won’t work on them. “When I heard about the research, I was like, ‘Why isn’t anybody doing this?’” Kleiser recalled.



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“If someone cuts their winter losses in half because of these vaccinated queens, it would spread like wildfire.”Commercial beekeper Chris Hiatt
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Kleiser spun Freitak’s research out of the university, then they created a vaccine that’s mixed into the so-called “queen candy” for the queens’ attendants, who then incorporate it into the royal jelly that is fed to the queen. The result is that the queen’s larvae will be primed against the disease when they hatch.



Beekeepers are watching closely. “This is really new. I think that’s why it’s caused a lot of interest and excitement,” said Blake Shook, a commercial beekeeper in Leonard, Texas, who is testing out the new vaccine. And national governments are interested too: Kleiser said she is in conversation with half-dozen countries in Asia, South America and Europe about buying the vaccine to protect their countries’ bees (she declined to name which ones). She’s raised $14 million in venture funding from At One Ventures and Prime Movers Lab so far. While this is an early-stage startup with revenue below $1 million, Kleiser is optimistic she’ll be able to land major contracts with both governments and commercial beekeepers in the next year.



But there’s a major hurdle: convincing beekeepers that the cost of $10 per vaccine is worth it. “Everyone is interested,” Shook told&nbsp;Forbes.&nbsp;“But it is expensive, and beekeeping isn’t exactly a high-margin business.”



Russell Heitkam, whose Heitkam’s Honey Bees is a major producer of queens (he sells some 75,000 of them a year), said his customers are actively trying to understand the economics and value of vaccination. For a commercial beekeeper with 30,000 hives, the cost of vaccinating at $10 a queen adds up quickly, to roughly $300,000. Heitkam, who is working with Dalan on trials of the vaccine, told&nbsp;Forbes&nbsp;he’d like to see proof that the vaccines allow each colony of bees to become more dense with healthy insects that can produce greater quantities of honey and do more pollination. Dalan argues that the cost to vaccinate will be more than offset by having fewer bees die off and healthier bees survive, but Heitkam and other beekeepers want to see the vaccine do more than just protect against American Foulbrood, which commercial beekeepers can in part prevent through better beekeeping practices, like not sharing equipment between colonies and cleaning hive tools carefully.



“People call me and say, ‘Hey, I want to get some queens, should I get them vaccinated?” he said. “An average queen is $28, and now you want to put another $10 on top of that, so you need to be able to monetize that $10.”



But, he points out, “If their vaccine can produce one more frame of bees at pollination time, that will pay for itself.” A frame is the movable part of the hive and can typically hold 2,000 to 2,500 bees.



Adds Chris Hiatt, a commercial beekeeper with Hiatt Honey who is also president of the American Honey Producers Association: “In beekeeping, it’s word of mouth. If someone cuts their winter losses in half because of these vaccinated queens, it would spread like wildfire.”



That’s just for one bee disease. Dalan’s researchers are studying whether its vaccine can provide protection against others, especially a particularly harmful one known as deformed wing virus. So far, experimental trials across 400 commercial hives have shown an&nbsp;<a href="https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/new-research-from-the-company-behind-the-first-honeybee-vaccine-offers-hope-for-beekeepers-against-a-deadly-viral-pathogen-302243458.html" rel="noreferrer noopener" target="_blank">83% reduction</a>&nbsp;in the levels of a highly transmissible variant of the virus. “Anything above 65% to 70% is considered effective treatment, and we’re well beyond that,” investor Chi said.



The next step is to expand beyond honeybees to other invertebrates, starting with shrimp. “It was clear for me from day one that this is not only the solution for one insect, but potentially for all invertebrates,” said Freitak, the company’s scientific cofounder.



Like beekeeping, shrimp farming — a $40 billion market — suffers from double-digit losses each year from diseases, despite relying heavily on chemical pesticides that take a heavy environmental toll. “There are billions of losses, and shrimp production is growing and has a big impact on mangroves because of the chemicals used in shrimp farming,” Kleiser said.



Since the immune system of shrimp is similar to that of bees, she thinks Dalan could vaccinate maternal shrimp similarly to queen bees. The company has begun testing vaccines for a common shrimp disease, known as white spot syndrome virus, starting with small shrimp and then as they get big enough for commercial sale. The company said it’s beginning to see promising results with a 64% survival rate in early tests at an aquaculture research facility. “In shrimp, everything has failed in the field,” she said. “We believe our approach is so different that we have a chance of cracking the market.”



If a vaccine works for bees and shrimp, what else might it be able to do? Longer term, Kleiser believes that even mosquitoes, known for carrying diseases like malaria and dengue fever to humans, could be vaccinated, reducing outbreaks worldwide. As climate change raises the risks of formerly tropical diseases spreading north, the ability to vaccinate insects could ultimately be as important for human health as for food security.



“It’s much, much bigger than the honeybee,” Kleiser said. “The honeybee is big because we need this animal to survive to feed us, but the science that is unfolding is way bigger than this.”

Mustard Agriculture In India

This Startup Makes A Vaccine For Honeybees. Shrimp Are Next.

India’s Covid catastrophe and the lessons for governments around the world on preparing for the next wave.



I arrived in Delhi with my wife on 15th April 2021 as the Covid-19 pandemic had started to rage through our country. Our only motivation was to be with our respective mothers who live alone in Delhi. When we landed in Delhi, things were relatively normal, and on the surface, it was almost business as usual. The first telltale sign of the impending chaos was when we did not get our test reports from the PCR tests that were taken on arrival in Delhi. The word ‘normal’ is relative, as for most other countries in the world, 250,000 cases a day would have been catastrophic. In a matter of two weeks, and as I write this piece, the cases crossed 400,000 on 30th April 2021 with no end in sight. Our hindsight pundits say that the peak will signal approximately 500,000 cases a day or over 3.5 million cases a week. The scale of this problem is gigantic and as news has spread across the globe, people are shocked and the affected are incensed and outraged by the lack of preparedness.



There was no reason for a country like India to not be prepared. Just a few months back, we had proudly positioned ourselves as the vaccine capital of the world. How did we go from being the hunter to the hunted in three months? How did we ignore the words of the Director-General of the World Health Organization who categorically stated that the next wave was going to be deadly?



I have watched the news over the last few weeks and sadly seen that the finger-pointing does not stop even during times of calamity. With all the human suffering that we have witnessed, there is no one who has the moral courage and integrity to accept that he or she has made an error in judgement. Our judiciary at the highest level had to point out to the Election Commission of India that they failed the people of the country by continuing with elections in three regions. The only people that have stayed the course are the frontline workers who have remained resolute in their resolve to help save human lives. The poor as always face the brunt of any calamity and this has been no different in this case. However, for once, the rich have not been spared either. People with millions in their bank accounts have fallen prey to this pandemic as in the end all they needed was an extract from freely available air and yet it was in short supply. No amount of money could help people source oxygen or find a hospital bed. The current virus is far more contagious and spreading faster through the air. The catastrophe has seen no caste, creed or economic disparity; everyone has suffered. The agony and despair of the people of our country have been beyond any human suffering that I have witnessed during my life. And yet, we will get past even this; such is the tenacity of human beings.



The citizens of India have suffered as a consequence of serious and inexcusable omissions and negligence on the part of the national and state leadership; every one of them. However, the people of the country must take responsibility for their reckless conduct leading to this disaster that will set our country back from its path to recovery. Not adhering to social distancing and taking the vaccination drive seriously are two major errors of judgement by the people. When disaster struck, everyone wanted to be vaccinated at the same time causing a system overload. I would like to take this opportunity to highlight some of the immediate actions that African and other governments must take on a war footing.



The biggest failure is stakeholder communications. The people of India were given to believe that the pandemic was over in February 2021. Politicians thumped their chests as they did their victory laps taking credit for beating the virus. This gave a false sense of security and people put their guards down and started behaving like it was business as usual. Clear communication from the government must continue indicating in no uncertain terms that the crisis is far from over.



Until a majority of the population has been vaccinated, all major events (of whatsoever nature including weddings, sports, religious or political campaigning) must be cancelled or held virtually. For everything else including office and other entertainment, dining and retail activities, all social distancing protocols must be followed meticulously. We have learned from 2020 that 100% lockdowns may not be necessary and to find the right balance, where needed, consider localized restrictions in infection zones. Lockdowns should be used as a measure of last resort as they are likely to do more damage than good.



Linked to vaccinations is the importance of testing. Governments must set up more labs for testing at reasonable costs and continue testing its constituents for the infection and also determine any variations or mutations to the virus until the vaccination drive is conclusively completed.



All governments must revert back to March 2020 and begin ramping up their healthcare infrastructure. This is the time to build additional ICU capacity in hospitals and infrastructure at several temporary purpose-built facilities that can take on overflows from hospitals. Some facilities should be built beforehand and others must be stored in semi-knocked-down condition in warehouses should the need arise. All hospitals must have adequate ambulance services available to move people as necessary.



<blockquote class="wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow">“The pharmaceutical sector must be given incentives in Africa so that capacity to produce medicines is enhanced exponentially. Collaboration must be set up with international companies to enhance both patented and generic medicines so that developing countries are not treated with lower priority when it comes to healthcare; all human lives are equally valuable.”</blockquote>



Ramp up oxygen production capacity and ensure that the storage of 50% excess capacity than normal national utilization targets are kept in reserve. This has proven to be the lifeline for Covid patients. In the same vein, all other oxygen infrastructure should be ramped up, including concentrators and other devices that can be used at home by people. The experience in India has been that for this particular virus, home care has been far more effective for a majority of the cases. For that, freely available support systems for home use are invaluable.



The only cure to the pandemic is an aggressive vaccination policy. There is no cure other than getting vaccinated and governments must procure vaccinations and make them available at a reasonable cost (if not free) to the entire nation. Countries that are behind on the vaccination drive must ramp it up and carry out a campaign to educate people on the urgent need to get vaccinated. There is clear evidence of lower incidences in countries where the vaccination rates are high. For Africa, I believe that the DFIs must immediately look at setting up infrastructure to become self-reliant on vaccines for the future. This is not an option; if anything is to be learned, no time must be wasted on this. It’s not rocket science and immediate action must be taken to develop the pharma industry expeditiously.



The pharmaceutical sector must be given incentives in Africa so that capacity to produce medicines is enhanced exponentially. Collaboration must be set up with international companies to enhance both patented and generic medicines so that developing countries are not treated with lower priority when it comes to healthcare; all human lives are equally valuable. Capacity must also be built for other hygiene products including masks, sanitizers, PPEs and other essential items.



An area that needs attention is the training of healthcare workers. The pandemic is contagious and care-givers need to be trained to stay out of harm’s way. The only way this can be done is to improve the quality of training of all frontline workers.



My next comment is on the role of the media. Being a media owner myself, I understand the need for accurate and actionable news but there rests an enormous responsibility in finding a balance between highlighting negligence and fueling chaos. Remember one thing always, that no government or administration ever wants to harm its people; this must remain an intrinsic belief at all times. As a case study, in India, over the last two weeks, there has been a frenzy in the Indian media regarding lapses in the preparation and the state of affairs at hospitals. While on the one hand, it served the very important purpose of holding public servants accountable for the absolute mismanagement of this crisis, the media created unintended fear in the public. This fear resulted in people going to hospitals the minute they tested positive thus clogging the system; there was a run on oxygen cylinders and concentrators as people began hoarding them and finally, there was a run on pharmacies that ran out of essential medicines because even people who did not need medicines, as a precaution, began storing them. What then emerged was a black market that has preyed on the sick and despondent.



It is my request to all media businesses around the world to begin devoting more than a cursory mention to the awareness campaigns around the pandemic. More inventory needs to be devoted towards educating people on the actions to be taken when the next wave arrives, the importance of vaccination and most importantly, on responsible social behavior. The best cure still is wearing masks, social distancing and sanitizing one’s hands regularly. If and when the next wave hits, the media must spend more time on educating people on taking precautions and symptoms management so that everyone does not run to hospital. If you can educate even a few people, you would have done your duty to humanity. Remember this is far from over and the lessons from India must be taken seriously by all governments around the world. Prepare for the next wave or history will repeat itself.



– The writer is the Founder and Publisher of FORBES AFRICA

Tag: vaccination

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This Startup Makes A Vaccine For Honeybees. Shrimp Are Next.

From The Eye Of The Storm