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Canadian veterinarians will be able to provide hog producers with a new modified live vaccine to help protect young pigs against the respiratory form of the virus causing PRRS.
Pfizer Animal Health said Tuesday it has picked up registration in Canada for Fostera PRRS, billed as a "new generation" product for vaccination of healthy, susceptible swine of age three weeks or older, to help prevent respiratory disease associated with the porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome virus (PRRSV).
The new vaccine can be used in PRRSV-positive herds or on seronegative pigs deemed at risk for exposure to PRRSV, the company said.
Fostera PRRS "helps growing pigs defend against a PRRSV challenge, allowing them to increase their post-challenge weight gain" compared to non-vaccinated test groups, the company said.
The new product is "available exclusively through Canadian veterinarians," the company said.
PRRSV, which costs Canadian pork producers an estimated $130 million per year, is "endemic in almost all pork-producing areas of the world," Pfizer's swine business unit director Dr. Walter Heuser said in a release.
The vaccine, registered for use in young pigs, "will help protect growing pigs facing a PRRSV challenge, and assist the Canadian swine industry in the management of this costly disease," he said.
Pfizer already uses the Fostera brand name in Canada to market Fostera PCV, a killed-virus vaccine for use in young pigs to help prevent viremia and control lymphoid depletion caused by porcine circovirus type 2.
