CHICAGO (Reuters) — The U.S. Department of Agriculture has approved the first vaccine that can be sold directly to farmers to help fight a virus that has wiped out an estimated 10 percent of U.S. pigs, it said on Monday.
The USDA said preliminary studies of the vaccine developed by Harrisvaccines “have been promising” in controlling porcine epidemic diarrhea virus, which has killed up to eight million pigs and pushed pork prices to record highs since it was first identified in the United States last year.
However, veterinarians said that farmers who administer the vaccine will still need to keep up strict biosecurity practices to protect their herds because PED is particularly virulent.
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It has been difficult in the past to develop effective vaccines for swine diseases like PED that cause extreme diarrhea, said Liz Wagstrom, chief veterinarian for the National Pork Producers Council.
Before Monday’s approval, the vaccine was available only on prescription. Several companies are in the early stages of developing vaccines for PED, but Harrisvaccines’ product is the first to win USDA conditional approval. That means it can be sold over the counter but the company must continue to test its effectiveness.
The product was already being administered to five percent to 10 percent of U.S. female pigs through prescriptions from veterinarians, Harrisvaccines said this month.
Its most recent study tested only three vaccinated pregnant female pigs and two that were unvaccinated; another study on about 15 animals is underway.
