Bharat Biotech in collaboration with the Indian Council for Agricultural Research(ICAR) has developed the world’s first vaccine for cattle’s Lumpy Skin Disease (LSD), which received green signal from the drug controller authority.The vaccine, named BIOLUMPIVAXIN, has received approval from India’s drug regulatory authority, the Central Drugs Standard Control Organisation (CDSCO).This is the first-ever Differentiating Infected from Vaccinated Animals (DIVA) marker vaccine for LSD. The disease, which affects cattle and Asian water buffaloes, is spread by insects and causes a significant loss of milk production, leading to economic damage for farmers.Lumpy Skin Disease (LSD) was first detected in India in July 2019 in Odisha and later spread to 20 states by the end of 2020, putting at risk India’s 303 million cattle and buffalo population that drives the country’s milk production. Over the past two years, nearly 200,000 cattle have died, and millions more have lost their milk-producing ability due to the disease.India is the world’s largest milk producer, contributing over 22% of global milk production, followed by the EU-28 and the United States.The vaccine’s quality, safety, and effectiveness have been thoroughly tested at the ICAR-National Research Centre on Equines (ICAR-NRCE) in Hisar and the Indian Veterinary Research Institute (IVRI) to ensure it meets global standards. This new indigenous live-attenuated marker vaccine was developed using the LSD virus/Ranchi/2019 strain from ICAR-NRCE in collaboration with Bharat Biotech’s Biovet.“The CDSCO licensure for this vaccine is a significant step toward India’s self-reliance (Atmanirbhar Bharat) in veterinary healthcare, which avoids dependency on imported vaccines,” said Dr. Krishna Ella, Founder of Biovet, a Bharat Biotech group company.He further stated that the vaccine will be commercially available soon. It will be provided in a freeze-dried form with stabilizing agents for long-term storage. A separate diluent will be supplied for reconstitution before use.The disease was first discovered in Zambia in 1929. Since then, it has spread across Africa, the Middle East, Southeastern Europe, Central Asia, and more recently, South Asia and China.
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