France selects Boehringer Ingelheim for avian influenza vaccines
According to Reuters, France has selected the German company Boehringer Ingelheim to provide the necessary 80 million doses of avian influenza vaccines for its upcoming vaccination campaign, set to begin in October. By launching this campaign, France will become the first country within the European Union to vaccinate poultry against avian flu. Ministry of Agriculture officials stated last month that tests conducted in France on vaccines manufactured by French company Ceva Animal Health and Boehringer Ingelheim demonstrated positive outcomes.Although the ministry did not disclose the exact value of the order, it indicated that Boehringer's proposal was deemed superior to that of Ceva based on financial considerations, as well as its ability to supply the required doses and meet storage conditions.
The vaccine :Volvac® B.E.S.T. AI+ND (1) is based on Baculovirus Expression System Technology.
The vaccine is an inactivated oil emulsion H5-recombinant baculovirus. The AI component in Volvac® B.E.S.T. AI+ND was specifically engineered by inserting the hemagglutinin (HA) viral sequence of the AI (H5 type) virus into the Baculovirus genome. The recombinant baculovirus encoding for a modified H5 antigen was produced in SF+ insect cells, and the ND virus antigen LaSota was produced in embryonated chicken eggs. Purified H5 protein is formulated together with inactivated ND LaSota antigen in a water-in-oil emulsion, where the H5 antigen concentration is 256 hemagglutinating units (HAUs)/dose and the ND antigen is 128HAUs/dose.
(1) Sultan HA, Arafa AE, Talaat S, Gaballa AA, Kilany WH, Elfeil WK, Shehata AA, Amarin N. Efficacy of clade 2.3. 2 H5-recombinant baculovirus vaccine in protecting muscovy and pekin ducks from clade 2.3. 4.4 H5N8 highly pathogenic avian influenza infection. Avian Diseases. 2019 Mar 2;63(1s):219-29.
