MSD Animal Health has announced that the Veterinary Medicines Directorate (VMD) of the United Kingdom has granted the company a provisional marketing authorisation for Bovilis® SBV, the first vaccine specifically targeting the Schmallenberg virus (SBV) in cattle and sheep. UK farmers will be the first in the Europe to have access to this vaccine against Schmallenberg, which will be available for vaccinating livestock this summer before most animals become pregnant again.
 

SBV, which emerged in late 2011, is transmitted via insect vectors, mainly midges and causes transient clinical symptoms in adult cattle and sheep as well as congenital malformation in newborn calves and lambs. As of March 2013, 1731 cases of SBV have been confirmed throughout the UK. SBV has now been detected in every county in England and Wales.
 

VMD chief executive Pete Borriello said: "This is the culmination of intensive activity on the part of MSD Animal Health and ourselves to make a safe and effective vaccine available to tackle Schmallenberg. Without in any way compromising the scientific rigour of our assessment process, we accelerated our assessment so that a vaccine will be available this summer. This means it will be possible to vaccinate sheep and cattle before most of them become pregnant. This is important as it is during pregnancy when exposure to the virus can cause damage to the foetus."


Studies conducted by MSD Animal Health in support of the provisional marketing authorisation reported that all animals responded with formation of virus neutralizing antibodies. During the studies, reduced viraemia against SBV was observed in sheep vaccinated one and prevention of viraemia was observed in cattle vaccinated twice, whereas all animals in the control groups developed infection and became viraemic. In studies to date, Bovilis® SBV has been shown to be effective in cattle and sheep.

The vaccine is based on wild-type SBV that has been inactivated and contains an adjuvant that stimulates the immune response. The vaccine will be available in 20ml and 100ml vials. Bovilis SBV is indicated for the active immunization of cattle to prevent viraemia against SBV and for the active immunization of sheep to reduce viraemia against SBV.