The U.S. Department of Agriculture approved Embrex's Inovocox vaccine for coccidiosis, a parasitic disease of digestive system in chickens, that causes weight depression, lower feed conversion ratios, intestinal lesions and diarrhea.

Inovocox(TM) vaccine is a novel in ovo vaccine that allows poultry producers to take further advantage of the Embrex Inovoject(R) injection system, an automated device that can deliver multiple vaccines to a chick while it is still in the egg. Inovocox(TM) can be delivered to poultry safely, precisely and uniformly in the controlled environment of the hatchery through the Inovoject(R) system. It offers protection to the bird in a single dose against three of the most common species of coccidia. In addition, Inovocox(TM) vaccine can be safely delivered in combination with other vaccines, such as Marek's vaccine which is commonly delivered in ovo via Embrex's Inovoject(R) system to more than 85% of U.S. broiler chickens to prevent Marek's disease.

According to an article in the Herald Sun, the firm is is not expecting the vaccine to generate "meaningful commercial revenues" until at least 2007. However, when the vaccine goes to full production, the company expects a big return on their investment on their newly built $15M-facility in Scotland County.

Read the full report from Herald Sun: Embrex vaccine receives USDA approval.

[Photo: Inovoject consistently, accurately and gently inoculates 20,000 to 50,000 eggs per hour, depending on machine configuration, from Embrex]