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Animal health moving to vaccine research

Animal health companies are moving to provide vaccines rather than antibiotics for treating livestock. Bloomberg reports companies such as Subway and Perdue have public relations campaigns in favor of the non-use of antibiotics in the meat they sell.

But animals still need to be treated for disease. And research centers, such as one built and operated by Elanco near Indianapolis are focused exclusively on developing vaccines as alternatives. Elanco plans to unveil several new vaccines this year and will invest two-thirds of the budget for its food-animal unit in alternatives to antibiotics.

FDA rules on antibiotics, that used to be voluntary, become mandatory in January along with rule changes requiring veterinarians to oversee drugs currently bought over the counter. As the change approaches, the animal health industry is investing in resources to educate farmers and agribusiness leaders on the benefits of vaccines in place of antibiotics to treat livestock.

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