OTTAWA, Feb. 28, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Avivagen Inc. (TSXV:VIV) (“Avivagen”) is pleased to announce that its partner in the Philippines, UNAHCO, has purchased 2 metric tons of OxC-beta™ Livestock, and follows an order of 2 metric tons delivered to UNAHCO in November 2018. UNAHCO forecasts demand to grow in 2019 as it expands into the southern regions of the Philippines and has confirmed that it intends to add OxC-beta™ Livestock as an ingredient to premixes for sows, a new application by UNAHCO of OxC-beta™ Livestock.
As demonstrated by this growing and recurring order flow and new areas of application, UNAHCO continues to experience increased adoption and acceptance of Avivagen’s OxC-beta™ Livestock product. This has led to Avivagen being approached by numerous potential new customers within the region, many of which are currently undertaking their own confirmatory trials, the results of which are expected in the near future.
With annual production of 395 million metric tons of feed representing 36% of the 1.1 billion metric ton global feed market, the Asia-Pacific region continues to be an important growth market for Avivagen in addition to its recently announced expansion into the U.S. The addition of OxC-beta™ Livestock to UNAHCO’s premix for sows is significant. Use in sows represents a promising new opportunity that is quite apart from any role as an antibiotic alternative. The application in sows is based on direct health benefits that cannot be achieved using antibiotics.
| COUNTRY | PRODUCTION | PRIMARY SPECIES | PERCENT OF PRIMARY TO TOTAL | |
| CHINA | 188MM TONNES | SWINE | 42% | |
| PHILIPPINES | 19MM TONNES | SWINE | 42% | |
| VIETNAM | 19.5MM TONNES | SWINE | 56% | |
| SOUTH KOREA | 19.7MM TONNES | SWINE | 33% | |
Avivagen expects this growth within the Asia-Pacific market to continue as it pursues additional regulatory approvals in new jurisdictions.
OxC-beta™ Livestock is a proprietary product shown to be an effective and economic alternative to the antibiotic growth promoters commonly added to livestock feeds. OxC-beta™ Livestock is currently available for sale in the Philippines, Taiwan, Thailand, New Zealand and the U.S. Avivagen intends to accelerate market access and the commercial uptake of its OxC-beta™ Livestock product, a product that has the potential to eliminate the use of antibiotics as growth promoters in livestock feed, which is a problem that needs an urgent solution and which represents a multi-million dollar market opportunity.
UNAHCO is the exclusive distributor for Avivagen’s OxC-beta™ Livestock in the Philippines, where it is now registered for use in all food animal species. The Philippines is an important feed market, with an estimated annual feed production of 19 million metric tons for 2019, up dramatically from 11.75 million metric tons in 2016i. The most important commercial livestock species in the Philippines are swine, followed by broiler poultry. Compared to Canada, the Philippines produces about the same amount of porkii and broiler poultryiii.
UNAHCO is the wholly-owned feed and veterinary subsidiary of Unilab Inc., the biggest pharmaceutical company in the Philippines. UNAHCO provides a broad range of animal healthcare and nutrition products and programs to meet the requirements of both commercial and individual farmers in the Philippines as well as abroad. It is a leading producer of pig and poultry feed and has a distribution network that serves more than 3,000 outlets, supported by more than 150 field personneliv.
About Avivagen
Avivagen is a life sciences corporation focused on developing and commercializing products for livestock, companion animal and human applications that, by safely supporting immune function, promote general health and performance. It is a public corporation traded on the TSX Venture Exchange under the symbol VIV and is headquartered in Ottawa, Canada, based in partnership facilities of the National Research Council of Canada and Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island. For more information, visit www.avivagen.com. The contents of the website are expressly not incorporated by reference in this press release.
About OxC-beta™ Technology and OxC-beta™ Livestock
Avivagen’s OxC-beta™ technology is derived from Avivagen discoveries about carotenoids, compounds that give certain fruits and vegetables their bright colours, and is a non-antibiotic means of maintaining optimal health and growth. OxC-beta™ Livestock is a proprietary product shown to be effective and economic as an alternative to the antibiotics commonly added to livestock feeds. OxC-beta™ Livestock is currently available for sale in the Philippines, Taiwan, Thailand, New Zealand and the U.S.
Avivagen’s OxC-beta™ Livestock product is safe, effective and could fulfill the global mandate to remove all in-feed antibiotics as growth promoters. Numerous international livestock trials with poultry and swine using OxC-beta™ Livestock have proven that the product performs as well as, and, sometimes, in some aspects, better than in-feed antibiotics.
Forward Looking Statements
This news release includes certain forward-looking statements that are based upon the current expectations of management. Forward-looking statements involve risks and uncertainties associated with the business of Avivagen Inc. and the environment in which the business operates. Any statements contained herein that are not statements of historical facts may be deemed to be forward-looking, including those identified by the expressions “aim”, “anticipate”, “appear”, “believe”, “consider”, “could”, “estimate”, “expect”, “if”, “intend”, “goal”, “hope”, “likely”, “may”, “plan”, “possibly”, “potentially”, “pursue”, “seem”, “should”, “whether”, “will”, “would” and similar expressions. Statements set out in this news release relating to the expectation that UNAHCO will continue to order product at the current rate or increase orders, UNAHCO’s intention to add OxC-beta™ Livestock as an ingredient to premixes for sows and during various phases of the swine growth cycle, inbound inquiries from new customers, expected growth within the Asia-Pacific market, the possibility for deployment or launch of OxC-beta™ Livestock in new jurisdictions around the world or for it to replace antibiotics in livestock feeds as well as fill a critical need for health support in certain livestock applications where antibiotics are precluded, Avivagen’s intention to accelerate market access and the commercial uptake of its OxC-beta™ Livestock product and the size of market opportunities are all forward-looking statements. These forward-looking statements are subject to a number of risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results or events to differ materially from current expectations. For instance, UNAHCO is under no obligation to continue purchasing product from Avivagen or to increase its purchases and it could cease or reduce its purchases at any time, inquiries from potential new customers may not result in orders for Avivagen’s products and field trials underway may not have anticipated outcomes, demand for Avivagen’s products in the Asia-Pacific market may not continue to grow and could decline, Avivagen’s products may not gain market acceptance or regulatory approval in new jurisdictions or for new applications and may not be widely accepted as a replacement for antibiotics in livestock feeds, new market access may not occur in the timeline or manner expected by Avivagen and the market opportunities may not be as large as Avivagen anticipates due to many factors, many of which are outside of Avivagen’s control. Except as required by law, Avivagen assumes no obligation to update the forward-looking statements, or to update the reasons why actual results could differ from those reflected in the forward-looking statements.
Neither TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.
For more information:
Avivagen Inc.
Drew Basek
Director of Investor Relations
100 Sussex Drive, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada K1A 0R6
Phone: 416-540-0733
E-mail: d.basek@avivagen.com
Kym Anthony
Chairman & Interim CEO
100 Sussex Drive, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada K1A 0R6
Head Office Phone: 613-949-8164
Website: www.avivagen.com
Copyright © 2019 Avivagen Inc. OxC-beta™ is a trademark of Avivagen Inc.
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i 2019 Alltech Global Feed Survey
https://www.alltech.com/feed-survey?utm_campaign=Global%20Feed%20Survey%202019&utm_medium=email&_hsenc=p2ANqtz--AGoETF0zZ1WDoDg0uPrY_0qZrB_xROyGrnogeoEapd6HLPmuxvl-yTAgUTQhhbQMYlyNbHRVbA1iaSrj9T4cveN4kNA&_hsmi=69399865&utm_content=69399865&utm_source=hs_email&hsCtaTracking=d5d0aec5-0ce9-49e1-bbc9-7bd92473609c%7C89cb3f93-de07-4510-957f-6903ca86272c
ii See this link for Canadian swine production, https://www.statista.com/statistics/273232/net-pork-production-worldwide-by-country/
iii Canada produced 1.2 million metric tonnes of broiler meat in 2017: see reference https://www.statista.com/statistics/474831/broiler-meat-production-canada/
iv Provided by UNAHCO.