Barber’s pole worm (Haemonchus contortus) is considered the world’s most severe sheep and goat parasite, costing Australian sheep producers millions of dollars each year.
The department has a commercial agreement with the Moredun Research Institute in the United Kingdom, who developed the vaccine technology, to produce commercial quantities at the department's Albany animal health laboratories.
Barbervax contains protein purified from the lining of Barber’s Pole intestines. Like all vaccines, it works by stimulating the natural immune response in the animal after injection. The antibodies produced circulate in the sheep’s blood, so that the parasites ingest them with their blood meal. These antibodies then attach to the lining of the Barber’s Pole intestine, blocking digestion and starving the worm so that it dies.
All processes operate under the audit-backed Good Manufacturing Practice system for pharmaceutical manufacturing.
The Barbervax vaccine was launched for commercial use in October 2014, following extensive field trials funded by Meat and Livestock Australia to confirm its effectiveness
Barbervax is now registered for use in lambs, hoggets and ewes and is exported throughout Australia and internationally.