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New vaccine to prevent lumpy skin disease in cattle gets govt approval
Biolumpivaxin will help in disease surveillance as it means the experts will be able to distinguish between vaccinated and naturally infected dairy cattle
Bharat Biotech group company, Biovet, has received approval from the national drugs regulator to market a vaccine against lumpy skin disease (LSD) in dairy cattle and buffaloes, the company announced on Monday, adding that it will help save hundreds of thousands of cattle in the country.
Over the past two years, approximately 200,000 cattle have died, and millions more have lost their milk production capabilities due to the viral disease.
Biolumpivaxin, is the world’s first Differentiating Infected from Vaccinated Animals (DIVA) marker vaccine, which will help in disease surveillance as it means the experts will be able to distinguish between vaccinated and naturally infected dairy cattle.
“The soon-to-be-launched Biolumpivaxin is the world’s only marker vaccine for LSD. It offers a high safety and efficacy profile while enabling serological differentiation between naturally infected and vaccinated animals with the DIVA concept in it,” said the company in a statement.
The vaccine got approval by the central drugs standard organisation (CDSCO).
“The quality, safety, and efficacy of the vaccine have been extensively tested at Indian Council of Agriculture Research-National Research Centre on Equines (ICAR-NRCE) and at the Indian Veterinary Research Institute (IVRI), ensuring it meets the highest global standards.”
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Lumpy skin disease is a transboundary animal disease that has gained significant attention in India due to its severe impact on cattle health and the dairy industry. The disease is characterized by the development of skin nodules across the body, fever, swollen lymph nodes, decreased milk yield and difficulty in movement. LSD virus transmission is largely attributed to vector bites, with mosquitoes, ticks, and other biting insects playing an essential role.
According to estimates, morbidity rates reached up to 80% with case fatality rates as high as 67%, across states such as Gujarat, Rajasthan, Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh, Punjab, and Jammu & Kashmir during the 2022 LSD outbreak in India.
Krishna Ella, founder of Biovet, said, “This DIVA marker vaccine is a game-changer for veterinary medicine for disease surveillance and eradication programs. Epidemiologists and Field workers can now distinguish if an animal received Biolumpivaxin or was previously infected with LSD.”
The statement said that the vaccine has been shown to be free from extraneous agents and demonstrated safety, immunogenicity, and protective efficacy against challenge infections in a controlled BSL3 animal facility.
“Additionally, the vaccine virus did not exhibit any signs of reverting to virulence when tested in cattle. Importantly, the vaccine virus was not detected in milk, semen, or other bodily excretions (such as nasal, ocular, or faecal routes) from the vaccinated animals,” it read.
This novel indigenous live-attenuated marker vaccine was developed using the LSD virus/Ranchi/2019 vaccine strain from Indian Council of Agriculture Research-National Research Centre on Equines (ICAR-NRCE), Hisar, in collaboration with Bharat Biotech’s Biovet. It is a single vaccination regimen given once in a year to cattle and buffaloes above 3 months of age. The presentation is in multi dose vials from 25 doses up to a maximum of 100 doses per vial and the vaccine is stable at 2-80 C storage temperature.
According to the company, it can produce 500 million doses of the vaccine that will soon be available commercially.
“The CDSCO licensure for this vaccine is a significant step toward India’s self-reliance (Atmanirbhar Bharat) in veterinary healthcare, which avoids dependency on imported vaccines. As India moves towards a disease-free livestock population, this path-breaking vaccine will play a crucial role in ensuring the dairy industry’s sustainability.”
