Vets took centre stage at the animal health industry’s annual excellence awards at a gala ceremony last night in Threadneedle St at the heart of the City of London. 
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Eurovet, Merial and Bioniche triumph at the Animal Pharm Awards 2007
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> The awards in the news
British Veterinary Association President David Catlow co-hosted the event with wildlife television presenter Michaela Strachan, as well as being a part of the awards judging panel and presenting the award for the year’s outstanding veterinary laboratory.
New tools for the veterinarian’s armoury were right at the heart of the evening. A new PCR test for BVDV, the first vaccine to tackle E coli in cattle and a therapeutic vaccine to tackle melanoma in dogs were three of the winners at this year’s Animal Pharm industry excellence awards. Cutting-edge innovations aimed at giving veterinarians more treatment and prevention options in all species packed the shortlists.
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| Animal Health Company of the Year Eurovet Animal Health | Animal Pharm 2007 Lifetime Achievement Award Winner Fort Dodge President E Thomas Corcoran | |
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| New Veterinary Product – Companion Animals Canine Melanoma Vaccine, Merial Limited | New Veterinary Product – Livestock EcoNiche, Bioniche Life Sciences | |
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| New Veterinary Products – Diagnostics BioVir, BVDV realtime PCR test, Enfer Diagnostics & AnDiaTech GMBH & Co | Best IT and Technical Innovation Compendium Productions Improvement, NOAH | |
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| Outstanding Licensing Deal of the Year Portfolio of PCR-based veterinary molecular tests, QIAGEN and the Veterinary Laboratories Agency | Best Supporting Role Triveritas | |
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| Outstanding Contribution by an Academic or Scientific Institution Bovine Cellular Immunology, Institute of Animal Health | Achievement or Contribution by a Small Business/SME Peptech Animal Health | |
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| BVA Leading Laboratory of the Year Veterinary Laboratories Agency | Corporate Social Responsibility Intas Pharmaceuticals |
EcoNiche, a vaccine produced by Canadian firm BioNiche, is aimed at curbing Escherichia coli in cattle, reducing shedding and transmission between animals, and preventing the bacterium from getting into the food chain. E coli isn’t particularly harmful to cattle, but it can be deadly to humans. Vaccinating animals just to prevent human illness is a completely new idea and trying to reduce the bacteria at source via immunization has never been tried before. EcoNiche won the 2007 award for the best new veterinary product for livestock.
The best new diagnostic category was topped by the BoVir BVDV test developed by Enfer Diagnostics and AnDiaTech. BoVir is pitched right at the four main problems with current BVDV testing. It’s easy to use. It’s highly sensitive and specific. It gives unprecedented early detection of the virus and it produces the most advanced genotype and strain diversity detection. The panel of judges believed that the BoVir made eradication of BVDV a realistic option for cattle producers.
Winner of the best new veterinary product for pets was Merial’s Canine Melanoma Vaccine. The first therapeutic DNA cancer vaccine to be licensed anywhere, it offers hope for complete recovery once localised disease control has been accomplished by the veterinary surgeon.
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| Vets take centre stage at the animal health industry’s annual excellence awards | Guests enjoy dinner before the awards ceremony | |
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| British Veterinary Association President David Catlow | Wildlife television presenter Michaela Strachan | |
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| Helena Jensen, Publisher, Animal Pharm | Jamie Day, Editor, Animal Pharm |
Vaccinating cattle against bovine TB is a controversial idea for all sorts of reasons, one of which is the problem of telling vaccinated from infected animals. Dr Jayne Hope’s team from the Institute of Animal Health cracked this problem with a new rapid, sensitive and accurate flow cytometry technique that can tell one from the other. Field trials are underway and if they’re successful, immunization of cattle with the BCG vaccine could start to become a practical possibility at last. Dr Hope and her team were winners of the award for an outstanding contribution by an academic or scientific institution.
Mr Catlow said that judging had been an interesting but challenging experience. “As President of the BVA, it was a wonderful opportunity to say thank you for the continued investment and commitment that, directly or indirectly, benefits so many members of the veterinary profession – and so many animals,” he said.
Animal Pharm is a worldwide business-to-business news service for the animal health industries, published by Informa Healthcare, part of the Informa Group. The newsletter has been running for more than 20 years and has over 2000 readers in animal health companies and related businesses around the world. For more information, visit www.animalpharmnews.com and www.animalpharmawards.com.
Images are available on request. For details, contact:
Helena Jensen, Publisher
Direct Line: +44 (0)20 7017 6995
Mobile/Cellphone: +44 (0)7971 608 239
Email: helena.jensen@informa.com
Babita Bahal, Events Director
Direct Line: +44 (0)20 7017 4804
Mobile/Cellphone +44 791 758 5454
Email: babita.bahal@informa.com
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