From:
Motor City Ferrets
Date: 2011-06-23 01:49:48 UTC
Subject: [ferrethealth] Distemper update: straight from the horse's mouth.
To: ferrethealth@yahoogroups.com
Today I spoke with Dr. Hall, a vaccinologist at Schering-Plough. She strongly
fought the decision to discontinue Galaxy D as she knew ferrets were using it!
But the decision came down from the top: not enough demand for the product, so
it was discontinued.
Dr. Hall currently has 18.000 doses of Galaxy D, the last of the production run,
in the warehouse in refrigeration. She is doing whatever needs to be done to
get these doses labeled so they can be sold, as many people are just catching on
to the fact Galaxy D is no longer available as they need more, leaving them up a
creek! She is going to contact me if the Galaxy D can be released for sale.
There is NONE anywhere "on the shelf" other than these doses. And these doses
all expire November, 2011 - that's it for Galaxy D, forever.
Now, on to the Nobivac® Puppy-DPv, which has been discussed as the "new version"
of the Galaxy D except it also is plus canine parvo protection. I spoke to Dr.
Hall about this vaccine today. This vaccine is made with a DIFFERENT STRAIN of
distemper than the one used in Galaxy D. The new vaccine uses strain #154. I
did not note the number of the strain used in Galaxy D. Again, this vaccine
uses a different strain than Galaxy D did. Dr. Hall said if the vaccine is
labeled Nobivac 1, it contains the same strain as Galaxy D. Nobivac 3, or
strain #154, is a different strain. Currently the Galaxy D strain is only
available in vaccines that have multiple protections: Nobivac DAPPv, DAPPv+Cv,
etc. for example.
So for those thinking of switching to the DPv, understand there is a different
strain here - so are they getting any protection at all? Obviously we wouldn't
want to give a shot that contains DAPPv, etc. as that's just too much "extra" on
board!
Dr. Hall did tell me she wants to see the canine distemper vaccines all switched
over to all use the same strain that was in Galaxy D. I've e-mailed her this
evening to follow up on our conversation this afternoon to see if she has any
idea if or when this change might happen. She was in the middle of something
today when we spoke and I didn't want to take up any more of her time.
So if vets have been using the DPv for over a year with no reactions that's
great as far as learning if critters will be able to handle the shot with the
bonus parvo component, but if it's a different strain then...???
Also, does anyone know the current cost of the Purevax? I did some searching
and I'm coming up with about $16 per dose. Boy that a shock to a shelter when
we're thinking we'll have to switch and give a 2 series to all our critters.
:( Not that I'm going to decide based on cost, of course...just another
unwelcome surprise as I dig into this issue more and more.
Nanci
Motor City Ferrets
www.motorcityferrets.org
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