LifeTide® SW 5

LifeTide® SW 5 is a once in a lifetime treatment for use in sows of breeding age to increase the number of piglets weaned. LifeTide® SW 5 must only be used by, or under the direction of, a registered veterinary surgeon. In a field study involving 483 treated sows and gilts and 488 control sows and gilts administration of LifeTide® SW 5 during pregnancy increased the number of piglets weaned by at least 1 piglet per sow over three litters. To maximize the benefit of LifeTide® SW 5 it should only be used in healthy sows and gilts that are well fed and managed to avoid potentially confounding effects on weaning rates due to inadequate sow nutrition, ill health or poor hygiene.

LifeTide® SW 5 is the world’s first and only approved Growth Hormone Releasing Hormone (“GHRH”) DNA therapy for food animals. The product is an injectable DNA plasmid encoding for porcine GHRH, and is administered as a once in a lifetime treatment for use in sows of breeding age to increase the number of piglets weaned. Licensing studies completed in Australia demonstrated a significant decrease in perinatal mortality and morbidity, resulting in an increase in sow productivity and the number of pigs weaned per sow. 
LifeTide® SW 5 was approved in Australia in January 2008 by the Australian PestiThe active constituent in LifeTide® SW 5 is a plasmid sequence that typically, after intramuscular injection and electroporation, enters skeletal muscle cells at the injection site and resides within the muscle cell. Treated muscle cells actively produce growth hormone releasing hormone (GHRH) at physiological concentrations. The GHRH, in turn, induces the animal to produce and secrete endogenous growth hormone under the control of normal physiological feedback mechanisms.The plasmid is delivered to the target tissue, usually a large muscle such as the semimembranosus or sternocranialis, by direct intramuscular injection followed by electroporation. Electroporation increases the efficiency of uptake of DNA into skeletal muscle cells. The manufacturer provides the portable electrokinetic device, CELLECTRA® (VGX™ Animal Health, Inc., The Woodlands, TX, USA). When used as set by the manufacturer, the CELLECTRA® device will deliver the appropriate electroporation conditions. Administration must be conducted with the pig under short-term, light, general anaesthesia.