Novartis obtains conditional license for new vaccine

As of last week Novartis Animal Health was granted the conditional license for the sale of its latest Birnagen Forte® vaccine, the Birnagen Forte® 2, the third of the company’s trio of vaccine products introduced this year. This new vaccine is aimed at protecting trout, and Atlantic and coho salmon from IPN (Infectious Pancreatic Necrosis) and SRS (Salmonid Rickettsial Septicemia), the latter of which is the most detrimental disease for Chile’s salmon industry. According to Constantino Siderakis, Sales and Marketing Manager for Novartis Animal Health in Chile, the latest vaccine contains recombinant antigens (a bacterial extract of SRS) for the prevention of SRS, and the complete antigens (the killed IPN virus) for the prevention of IPN. “We are completing a trio of products, that in different combinations, cover the widest spectrum of salmonid diseases in salt water,” comments Siderakis. As with the prior Birnagen Forte® vaccines, they require only a micro-dose of 0.05 ml, which minimizes the adverse affects of vaccination such as appetite loss and fungus growth following fish handling.