Current concepts and future approaches to the development of autologous/autogenous vaccines for veterinary use.

Current classification of autologous/autogenous (A/A) vaccines is commonly based on the concept of strain/antigen specificity associated with targeted treatment of a restricted number of animals. However, fulfilling these two conditions is not sufficient for immune-veterinary immunebiologicals to be excluded from the provisions of Directive 2001/82/EC. Indeed, non-inactivated A/A vaccines are not automatically considered out of the scope of the community code relating to veterinary medicinal products, in particular to immune-biologicals. As a major consequence of the "regulatory" exclusion from the requirements of EU rules, A/A vaccines can be usually manufactured and distributed without having obtained a marketing authorization by the competent authority of a Member State. Furthermore, strain specificity enables veterinarians to consider the use of these vaccines in quite a large variety of epidemiological circumstances where no "conventional" vaccines are yet available or are considered efficacious. In addition, in contrast to "conventional" vaccines, which are considered exclusively as a preventive tool against infectious diseases, A/A vaccines can also be used to treat "continuing" infections. Although the limited scientific value of these products and the poor investigations of the effector mechanisms involved are widely recognized, their use is still claimed in conditions where disorders in the immune system are suspected. Today, a more appropriate definition of A/A vaccines is one that takes into account their historical tradition and practical use, such as stable- or herd-specific vaccines, custom ("..ized") vaccines, therapeutic vaccines, pharmavaccines, vaccines used for biological therapy, etc. Although acknowledging the "regulatory autonomy" of A/A vaccines versus "conventional" vaccines, here it will be presented as an overview of the necessary points to consider, to guarantee an acceptable standard in the development and control of this particular category of veterinary immune-biologicals.