In the news

Nobivac vs Neovac

Which should you use during the yearly Merial Purevax shortages

From the FML posts by Sukie (not a vet) 

"In relation to some of the types of confusion that surround Nobivac vs Neovac:

One person (not a vet) has been saying that Nobivac contains parvovirus vaccine and that person says it will therefore kill ferrets. All the early CDV vaccines we used to have contained parvovirus vaccine and did not kill ferrets. Ferrets just do not need it. Parvovirus vaccine has never killed any ferrets as far as I know though, and a number of ferret expert vets currently use Nobivac for ferrets with no unusual problems reported. Nobivac is a descendent drug of Galaxy. Yes, it is best to minimize unneeded vaccines when possible, but since Merial tends to regularly have shortages of Purevax there is often no choice. 

Neovac, which is an entirely different product, HAS NOT BEEN TESTED to even see if it works in ferrets, and the one tiny and very short term safety study was insufficient to know anything except that it does not outright kill young male kits on its first use. That is the ONLY testing reported for that product and is woefully insufficient.

From personal communications I know that Neovac had a few respected vets and shelters offer to conduct REAL, WELL DESIGNED safety studies but unless things have changed recently then as far as I know the maker has so far refused such offers."

"Tonight I learned from Dr. Murray that ferrets require higher antigen levels in CDV vaccines than dogs and that Neovac simply might not have enough to create immunity to Canine Distemper. Nobivac, on the other hand, has had some titer work done so is known to induce immunity. 

Again, it is important to not confuse the two. Nobivac has good reasons to be used when Purevax can not be gotten, but Neovac might not even work for ferrets. So, Nobivac is the most reasonable option till there are well enough tested vaccines again, whereas Neovac is best avoided till they can show that it even works at all. (Nobivac yes, Neovac no)

Also learned tonight is that Nobivac is not "descendent" of Galaxy. Rather when Merck and ScheringPlough/Intervet merged they decided to get rid of Galaxy but keep Nobivac.

There is always room for learning!"