France has chosen German company Boehringer Ingelheim to supply the 80 million doses of bird flu vaccines needed for its vaccination campaign to start in October, an agriculture ministry spokesperson told Reuters on Wednesday.
The government launched a tender in April to vaccinate ducks against avian influenza, commonly called bird flu, that has ravaged flocks around the world and led to the culling of hundreds of millions of birds.
The campaign would make France the first country in the European Union to vaccinate poultry against the deadly virus.
French firm Ceva Animal Health and U.S. company Zoetis (ZTS.N) had also applied in the tender.
Agriculture ministry officials said last month that tests carried out in France on Ceva and Boehringer Ingelheim's vaccines showed favourable results.
However, the price offered by Boehringer Ingelheim was cheaper than that of Ceva, said two sources with direct knowledge of the matter who declined to be named. The sources did not quantify the value of the order.
The French poultry industry had asked to have two different vaccines to avoid supply hiccups. They also preferred a vaccine with one of the two doses injected in hatcheries, like in Ceva's vaccine, making it easier for farmers, according to a letter from several industry groups to the agriculture ministry, seen by Reuters.
Boehringer Ingelheim and Ceva declined to comment.
