ViroGen's product Newcastle disease in ovo vaccine, marketed as "New ovomune", protects poultry from the Newcastle disease at an early age when the birds are highly susceptible to the disease.
Newcastle disease is an acute, highly contagious viral infection which affects domestic and commercial poultry throughout the world. The disease causes respiratory distress, pneumonia and paralysis, eventually resulting in death. The disease results in 100 percent mortality in younger or newly hatched chicks of the susceptible flock. An egg laying flock's productivity is impaired or may cease altogether, and fail to recover. In developing countries, the disease causes tremendous economic loss in terms of mortality and morbidity of the flock. The disease is only controlled by immunization at an early age with the available vaccines. Currently, all commercial chickens raised in the United States and around the world are vaccinated with some form of Newcastle disease vaccine.
ViroGen believes that its New ovomune vaccine is the vaccine of the future. The vaccine is safe and economical. It provides earlier and better protection than other traditional vaccines applicable posthatch.
New ovomune vaccination delivers a uniform dose of vaccine in each individual egg thus providing a uniform, active antibody titer in the flock. Moreover, it saves the labor cost as well as the cost of vaccine for revaccinating the flock as compared to the traditional Newcastle disease vaccines.
During field trials, other advantages are likely to be confirmed. Better feed conversion, more uniform size among birds at market time, longer immunity, and less possible chance of random Newcastle disease outbreaks are expected from the birds that receive the New ovomune vaccine.