Source:  Lisa M. Keefe, MEATINGPLACE.COM, 6/4/09

USDA announced that the master seed virus for the strain of H1N1 that emerged in the spring will be available to veterinary biologics manufacturers later this summer.

In a release, USDA's Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service's Center for Veterinary Biologics (CVB) said it will issue a notice to manufacturers next week. The agency believes the master seed virus will be ready in early- to mid-July.

The master seed virus is being derived from a sample acquired from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) through collaboration between Agricultural Research Service's National Animal Disease Center (NADC) and CVB.

Since 1993, CVB has licensed swine influenza vaccine for several strains of swine influenza virus. However, preliminary results from work conducted at NADC in response to the 2009 H1N1 situation seem to indicate that current swine influenza vaccine products may not provide adequate protection against the new strain. APHIS and ARS continue to run additional tests to determine if any vaccines currently available protect against the 2009 H1N1 strain.

By providing all interested manufacturers with the same approved H1N1 master seed virus, APHIS eliminates the need for each manufacturer to develop its own master seed that would then require CVB confirmatory testing. Instead, while the "global" master seed virus is undergoing tests at CVB, each interested manufacturer can begin working on the next steps involved in novel vaccine production.

Producers could have a vaccine available as early as November or December 2009.

For more stories, go to www.meatingplace.com.