Vaccine Ban on Pirbright Lab Lifted

THE drug company at the centre of the recent foot-and-mouth outbreak has been given permission to restart making vaccines against the disease, it said yesterday.

An interim Health and Safety Executive report found a “strong probability” the source of infections in Surrey was Pirbright lab complex, shared by the Institute for Animal Health and Merial Animal Health.

Merial said it had the consent of the Veterinary Medicines Directorate to restart making FMD vaccines. But it will use only inactivated antigens and not make live virus without consultation.

Merial suspended vaccine making on August 4 as FMD was confirmed in cattle near Guildford. It resumed from August 6 to 8 to supply 300,000 doses to Defra.

The HSE said the strain at the first farm was being worked on at both the Institute and Merial. But it did not say which was responsible for the outbreak, which led to a national ban on animal movements.

Merial said its own inquiries had found no evidence the outbreak could be traced to any failure in its biosecurity.

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