Iowa Company Gets Approval to Sell Vaccine for PEDv

Jun 17, 2014

By Amanda Brodhagen, Farms.com

An Iowa-based firm, Harrisvaccines has been given the go-ahead by the U.S. Department of Agriculture (UDSA) to sell its vaccine to combat the Porcine Epidemic Diarrhea Virus (PEDv).

This is the first approved licensed vaccine for the pig-killing virus, or PED, which has killed more than eight million hogs in the United Stated since it was first detected on a farm in North Carolina the spring of 2013.

“Using our unique rapid-response production methods, we were able to create a vaccine in a matter of weeks after the outbreak,” Joel Harris, Head of Sales and Marketing for Harrisvaccines said in a release.

According to the company, since last year, they’ve sold almost 2 million doses of the vaccine through veterinary prescription, however, the conditional license now allows the company to sell its vaccine directly to pig farmers.

The approval is for a conditional license, a move that the USDA does sometimes grant in order to meet an emergency-type need, which in this case would be PEDv. But like most USDA approved products, it has to meet certain criteria. Conditionally licensed products must demonstrate “a reasonable expectation of efficacy” and safety standards.

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Regulations help markets and industry exist on level playing fields, keeping consumers safe and innovation from going too far. However, incredibly strict regulations can stunt innovation and cause entire industries to wither away. Dr. Peter James Facchini brings his perspective on how existing regulations have slowed the advancement of medical developments within Canada. Given the international concern of opium poppy’s illicit potential, Health Canada must abide by this global policy. But with modern technology pushing the development of many pharmaceuticals to being grown via fermentation, is it time to reconsider the rules?

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