Investigation of the optimal medium and application strategy for foot‐and‐mouth disease vaccine antigen production

Aims For the effective production of 146S particles, which determines foot‐and‐mouth disease (FMD) vaccine efficacy, we aimed to identify the optimal medium that is easy‐to‐use, productive and economically affordable for the large‐scale production of FMD vaccine. Methods and Results Nine combinations of cell growth media and replacement media were tested for virus propagation. Apart from the replacement strategy, we tested a simple addition strategy involving the addition of 30% v/v of fresh medium to the total spent medium using the Cellvento BHK‐200 (Vento). Unlike other tested media that produced poor yields of 146S particles when the spent media were not eliminated, Vento exhibited high productivity with the 30% addition strategy. Conclusions Considering its lower price and media consumption compared to those of other media that require media replacement, the 30% addition strategy of Vento is highly effective. Furthermore, owing to its simple application strategy, it makes the scale‐up process easy and helps in saving the time and labour involved in spent media removal. Significance and Impact of the Study Through the first comparative assessment of commercial media for the 146S particle recovery, this study suggests the best practical medium for the industrial‐scale production of FMD vaccines.