Ingelvac® PRRS MLV

In January, the United States Department of Agriculture has approved the Ingelvac® PRRS MLV Vaccine for whole-herd mass vaccination in PRRS-positive herds.

This new product claim for Ingelvac® PRRS MLV vaccine provides pork producers with another much needed management tool to help them achieve a simultaneous and high level of immunity for the entire breeding herd when dealing with the impact of Porcine Reproductive and Respiratory Syndrome (PRRS). Whole-herd vaccination has been proven safe and effective in pigs, gilts and sows at any age of production in PRRS-positive herds.

The strategic objective of whole-herd vaccination in PRRS-positive herds is to eliminate any naïve subpopulations within a herd. "This is important since field strains of the PRRS virus appear to spread more readily and chronically circulate when carrier pigs shed virus to subpopulations of naïve pigs in the same population. This new claim provides the whole sow herd with immunization without inducing disease." said Dr. Leuchs, Member of the Board of Managing Directors at Boehringer Ingelheim, responsible for Animal Health.

Ingelvac® M.hyo

Another Boehringer Ingelheim swine vaccine, the one-shot Ingelvac® M.hyo, the vaccine for active immunisation of pigs against Mycoplasma hyopneumoniae, is now approved and available in the EU with an extended label claim.

According to the new label, Ingelvac® M.hyo provides onset of protection within 2 weeks after vaccination. This represents the fastest onset of protection approved for any Mycoplasma vaccine in the EU. Piglets vaccinated at weaning are therefore protected at an age of 5-6 weeks, well in advance of field infections which rarely occur earlier than 8-12 weeks of age.

"The new label claim is very important for producers and veterinarians because fast onset of protection guarantees greatest one-shot efficacy, especially in highly challenging field situations" explains Dr Joachim Hasenmaier, Head of Boehringer Ingelheim Animal Health GmbH.

In September 2002, Boehringer Ingelheim Animal Health has launched Ingelvac® M.hyo in Europe. Outside Europe Ingelvac® M.hyo is marketed in the US since 1998, has subsequently been introduced in Canada, Mexico, Brazil, Korea, Philippines, Taiwan and Thailand and has most recently been introduced in China.

Ingelvac® M.hyo is is indicated for pigs from three weeks of age and is thus avoiding the likely stress for piglets related to conventional vaccination regimes, often applied in the 1st week of life. The new vaccine protects growing pigs with a single injection until slaughter under field conditions. Ingelvac® M.hyo has been shown to stimulate both humoral and cell mediated immunity.

Boehringer Ingelheim

The Boehringer Ingelheim group of companies, headquartered in Ingelheim, Germany, is one of the 20 leading pharmaceutical corporations in the world. Its core businesses are human pharmaceuticals and animal health. The animal health business is conducted in 20 countries including USA, Canada, Germany, UK, Italy, Spain, Mexico, the Nordic countries and Japan.

Since 1954, Boehringer Ingelheim Animal Health is contributing to an adequate supply of safe, nutritious food and is promoting the emotional and physical benefits arising from the human-animal bond.

In 2002, Boehringer Ingelheim’s overall research and development spending was more than 1.3 billion euro which is about a fifth of net sales in Prescription Medicines.

Contact:
Boehringer Ingelheim GmbH
Corporate Division Communications
Julia Meyer-Kleinmann
55216 Ingelheim am Rhein
GERMANY
Phone: +49/6132/77 82 71
Fax: +49/6132/77 66 01
E-mail: [email protected]

Source: Boehringer Ingelheim GmbH - 19th March 2004