Intervet/Schering-Plough opens new poultry vaccine facility

Intervet/Schering-Plough opens new SPHEREON® vaccine manufacturing facility in southern Netherlands, Boxmeer.

The facility was opened by Gerda Verburg, Dutch minister of Agriculture, Nature and Food Quality as part of her visit to the Schering-Plough Animal Health headquarters in Boxmeer.

The new facility, featuring in-house developed manufacturing technology, adds to what is already the largest vaccine R&D and production site in the Dutch pharmaceutical industry.

The innovative SPHEREON® technology freeze-dries live poultry vaccines to small, highly soluble particles (spheres) instead of the traditional vaccine cake in a glass bottle.

SPHEREON® vaccines are packaged in light-weight aluminum cups in convenient dose sizes.

Dissolving the particles is fast and convenient for administration of the vaccine via water, spray or eye-drop.

The ground-breaking concept has been patented by Schering-Plough Animal Health and improves both manufacturing as well as the application of vaccines.

The major advantages of the SPHEREON® vaccine technology are the easy and quick dissolution, hygienic application, availability of high-dosage presentations and large batch sizes.

These advantages all contribute to enhanced convenience and reduced risk of inadvertent vaccine exposure.