Elanco’s new DNA-derived vaccine, Clynav, has been used on a new group of farmed fish in Norway, this time at a SalMar nursery near the city of Trondheim, the company that inoculated the fish, Skala Maskon, has reported.
SalmonBusiness reported the first, somewhat historic use of Clynav in Norway in January, but this time the numbers of fish vaccinated were quickly disclosed. Skala Maskon’s vaccination machine inoculated 15,000 fish in February, and another 400,000 will be “lined up” later this month for a shot through their thickest muscle of Elanco’s vaccine against pancreas disease.
Vaccines are intended to displace antibiotics in fish-farming. A DNA-derived vaccine is expected to perform well in a market for the fish meds already known to field strong competitors.
Read European first, as DNA-derived vaccine used in Norway
The vaccination machine, too, was a breakthrough two years in the making. A new attachment to an existing Skala Maskon machine adjusts the hypodermic’s placement to the size of the fish.
“(The SalMar test) was successful,” Skala Maskon manager, Jon Anders Leikvoll, said in a statement about administering the DNA vaccine using a machine that adjusts for double doses and injections into different parts of the fish. Up to 20,000 fish an hour can be inoculated using the system.
“Right now, we’re watching everything that’s happening with DNA vaccines,” Leikvoll stated, adding that machine attachments for triple doses are already being worked out.
