Benchmark today announced the relaunch of the Bovine Viral Diarrhoea (BVD) vaccine, Bovidec, which has the longest foetal protection in the market. The vaccine, previously owned by Elanco, has been licensed to British company Benchmark and will be available in 2019.
BVD is one of the biggest disease issues facing the cattle industry today and is estimated to cost UK farmers £25-61 million per year. The widespread and highly contagious disease impacts animal welfare within affected herds and reduces farm productivity and profitability.
Ruth Clements, Head of Veterinary Programmes at Benchmark Animal Health commented: “Bovidec has been many veterinarians’ and farmers’ BVD vaccine of choice for over 20 years and we are so pleased to reintroduce this well trusted and highly effective product to the market to improve the health and welfare of the national beef and dairy herds.”
Foetal protection is key
The disease is caused by a virus and lingers in herds through Persistently Infected (PI) animals which is commonly spread by infected dams to their unborn calf, semen of infected bulls or nose-to-nose contact with infected carriers.
“Vaccination of all breeding females coupled with a young stock monitoring programme is the most effective way of moving towards a BVD free herd,” explains Clements.
“Bovidec has the longest foetal protection of any licensed BVD vaccine and combined with a good management plan we truly believe the return of the vaccine will have a demonstrable impact on reducing the levels of BVD in the UK”.
Bovidec will be manufactured in the UK at Benchmark’s own state-of-the-art vaccine manufacturing facility.
