The government on Saturday said it has signed an agreement with Pune-based Institute of Veterinary Biological Products (IVBP) for commercial production of indigenously developed vaccine ‘Lumpi-Provac’ for control of Lumpy Skin Disease in cattle.
The vaccine has been developed by Haryana-based National Center for Veterinary Type Culture and ICAR-National Research Center on Equine in collaboration with ICAR-Indian Veterinary Research Institute, Uttar Pradesh.
Agrinovate India Limited, the commercial arm of the Department of Agricultural Research and Education under the aegis of the Union Ministry of Agriculture, has granted ‘non-exclusive rights’ for commercial production of ‘Lampi-Provac’ to IVPB for ten years, according to an official statement .
After signing the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU), Union Minister for Fisheries, Animal Husbandry and Dairying Purushottam Rupala asked the IVBP to “start mass-scale manufacturing of the vaccine without any further delay.”
Presently goat pox vaccine is used to control lumpy skin disease in cattle. He said that this MoU will also ensure large scale production of Goat Pox Vaccine for the future needs of India’s livestock sector.
Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde, Deputy CM Devendra Fadnavis and State Animal Husbandry Minister Radhakrishna Vikhe Patil were present at the event.
“It is expected that the vaccine technology will certainly meet the market standard and provide a defense mechanism to control the devastating lumpy skin disease,” according to the statement.
Lumpi-ProVac is used for the prophylactic vaccination of animals against lumpy skin disease which provides protection for approximately one year. Vaccines are stored at 4 °C and should be shipped on ice and used within a few hours after reconstitution.
A patent has been filed by ICAR for the technology, the statement said.
Lumpy skin disease was reported in India in 2019, while the first case was reported in Odisha. After that, it has spread to many states across the country.
In 2019, a large number of cattle deaths were reported from various states with high incidence, especially in the North-West region of the country.
The disease has been contained and controlled with the goat pox vaccine available in the country. Considering the heavy production loss and mortality of a large number of cattle, ICAR initiated research on the development of indigenous domestic vaccine against lumpy skin disease.
Indian Council of Agricultural Research Deputy Director General BN Tripathi and other top officials of IVRI, NRCE and AgIn were also present at the event.