MSD Animal Health brought together 400 swine veterinarians from across Europe in Madrid on March 9th and 10th to present the vaccine Porcilis® PCV Mhyo, a ready-to-use single-injection combination vaccine that protects piglets against Porcine Circovirus type 2 and Mycoplasma hyopneumoniae throughout the fattening period.
The vaccine was authorized last November by the European Commission and is expected to be available in the all the European Union countries by July.
Fernando Riaza, Vice President at MSD Animal Health for Southern Europe, Middle East and North Africa, opened the session, and was followed by a brief presentation by Richard R. DeLuca, President at MSD Animal Health.
Rika Jolie, Global Technical Director at MSD Animal Health, presented the ResPig® system, a web based platform that aims to provide porcine respiratory disease complex control and prevention strategies addressing specific needs for each individual farm. For detailed information on this system, visit www.respig.com. After that, Frans Dirven, swine consultant and Director at Lintjeshof, Veterinary Clinic in The Netherlands, talked about his practical experience in the implementation of ResPig®, as well as his achievements regarding this approach to controlling PRRS and other respiratory diseases, reduction in the use of antibiotics, etc. in more than 70 farms where he applies this system.
Next, Jim Lawless motivated the audience with his entertaining presentation “10 rules for Taming tigers”.
The closing session of the first day was done by Narciso Bento, Head of Global Swine Unit Business at MSD Animal Health.
On the second day the session was opened by Hans Dittrich, Vice President of Northern European countries at MSD Animal Health. Then, KJ Varma, Head of Global R&D at MSD Animal Health, explained the Company's general lines of research and development, and presented two of its main innovations: the IDAL injector for intradermal vaccination and, more recently, the Porcilis® PCV M hyo vaccine.
Quim Segalés, Director of CReSA, gave an entertaining and informative presentation entitled "Controlling PCV2 and M hyo infections: The Good, the Bad and the Ugly", where he identified each of the pathogens and vaccinations against them with each of the main characters of the famous film. Throughout the presentation he talked about the efficacy of the vaccines against both pathogens, its ability to overcome maternally derived immunity and cross protection among PCV2 genotypes.
The next presentation was by Heiko Nathues, Swine Clinic Director at the University of Berne, who focused his contribution on Mycoplasma hyopneumoniae, explaining the transmission model developed by his team, as well as the economic importance and prevention of this disease.
The second part of the session was entirely devoted to explain the characteristics of Porcilis® PCV Mhyo. Initially, Ruud Segers, head of R&D Swine Biologicals at MSD, explained in detail the long road to the release of Porcilis® PCV M hyo in the market, including its safety and efficacy laboratory results.
Next, Rika Jolie explained in detail the vaccine efficacy and safety results providing data from several tests.
The following presentation, by Eleni Tzika, Assistant Professor at the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, provided more data from field trials to support the success of vaccination with Porcilis® PCV M hyo.
Michael Campbell, Marketing Director for Respig®, began his presentation, entitled "Porcilis® PCV M hyo - It's easy. It works", that stressed the reasons for using this vaccine.
Finally, Fabio Paganini, Head of Food Production Animals at MSD Animal Health, closed the meeting expressing the commitment of the company towards the swine industry.
March 10, 2015 - pig333.com