By Bruce Cochrane.
Clinical trials are showing a new vaccine developed by VIDO-InterVac is highly effective in protecting neonatal piglets from Porcine Epidemic Diarrhea.
VIDO-InterVac is testing a new vaccine developed over the past two years to protect neo-natal piglets from Porcine Epidemic Diarrhea.
Dr. Volker Gerdts, the associate director research with VIDO-InterVac, says the vaccine is administered to the sow, four to five weeks before then end of gestation and again two weeks before the end of gestation and the piglet receives immunity from the colostrum.
Dr. Volker Gerdts-VIDO-InterVac:
We've done a number of clinical trials here at our facilities.
It is important to point out that, in all of our experiments, we are using naive animals.
These are sows that have never been exposed to PED before or to a vaccine so therefore they are naive and so they are really vaccinated for the first time.
We've done a series of trials here in our facilities and we've shown that the vaccine is actually very very effective.
The efficacy probably ranges in the range of 80 to 90 percent.
We've then also, with support from Sask Pork and producers here in the province of Saskatchewan and the Saskatchewan Government, we've taken this vaccine into clinical trials.
Three commercial units in the province have immunized sows there.
These are sows with different genetic backgrounds, different health statuses and different management practices and then vaccinated these sows out there in the commercial units, done by the local herd veterinarians who kindly have agreed to help up with this project.
The we brought some of these sows back into our isolation facilities here and farrowed them out and then exposed the piglets to the virus and, again, we can confirm that the vaccine is highly efficacious.
Dr. Gerdts says the vaccine has been licensed to Huvepharma for commercialization.
He says Huvepharma is keen on getting the vaccines onto the market as soon as possible.
Source: Farmscape