March 13, 2008

 

Boehringer Ingelheim's Express vaccines get USDA nod

 

 

Boehringer Ingelheim announced that it has gained USDA approval for its Express and Express FP vaccines, for use in whole-herd vaccination programmes.

 

The whole-herd option will greatly improves flexibility in vaccinating a pregnant cow and nursing calf provided the cow was vaccinated with Express® FP prior to breeding.

 

To receive the new approval from USDA, Boehringer Ingelheim Vetmedica conducted extensive real-world safety studies involving more than 3,200 beef cows and calves in commercial cow/calf herds.

 

The results demonstrated no difference in the number of fetal losses from animals vaccinated prior to and during pregnancy with Express FP vs. animals vaccinated with only Lepto during pregnancy. 

 

There were no fetal losses due to IBR or BVD viruses. Additional testing on newborns from cows that had been vaccinated during pregnancy also showed no detectable risk of vaccine virus being passed to the fetus.

 

Previous safety studies have demonstrated that calves vaccinated with Express did not shed the IBR, BVD Type 1 or BVD Type 2 virus components in the vaccine.

 

This new round of studies provides another layer of assurance, demonstrating that even if previously vaccinated pregnant cows were to be exposed to the vaccine virus through a nursing calf that had been vaccinated, it would pose no significant risk to the developing fetus, says Carol Rinehart, bovine vaccines manager for the company.   

 

Craig Jones, associate director of Cattle Professional Services for Boehringer Ingelheim Vetmedica, said the ability to use Express MLV vaccines in calves nursing cows previously vaccinated with Express FP, allows the start of a modified live virus vaccination programme early in life and allows the calves to develop more complete immunity against the key viral causes of bovine respiratory disease prior to the stress of weaning.

 

Jones said that with the whole-herd option now available with Express and Express FP vaccines comes the improved ability to control the viruses that commonly cause reproductive losses and bovine respiratory disease and does allow for some flexibility for vaccinating the cow-calf herd.

 

Boehringer Ingelheim Vetmedica is a German company and ranks among the world's leading pharmaceutical company.