Ottawa, ON / Business Wire / February 18, 2021 / – Avivagen Inc. (TSXV:VIV) (“Avivagen”), a life sciences corporation focused on developing and commercializing products for livestock, companion animal and human applications that enhance feed intake and safely support immune function, thereby supporting general health and performance, is pleased to announce that a paper “Evaluation of fully oxidized β-carotene as a feed ingredient to reduce bacterial infection and somatic cell counts in cows with subclinical mastitis” reporting an independent trial conducted in New Zealand by Dr. Scott McDougall has been accepted for publication in the New Zealand Veterinary Journal. A preprint of the paper is available at: https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2020.10.12.335463v1.full
Avivagen previously reported the positive outcome of the trial to shareholders in a press release on February 24, 2020. The two seminal findings of the trial were that treatment with OxC-beta:
- Resulted in a 100% increase in the number of udder-quarters testing negative for the presence of bacteria in milk at the end of the 42-day study.
- Significantly reduced the number of udder-quarters that progressed from subclinical to full clinical mastitis.
The New Zealand Veterinary Journal (NZVJ) is an international journal publishing high quality peer-reviewed articles covering all aspects of veterinary science. It ranks in the top 25% of veterinary science journals in the world. The acceptance and publication of the manuscript in NZVJ provides scientific validation of the trial and its findings which is important to Avivagen’s customers.
Avivagen has already successfully leveraged the results of the New Zealand trial with dairy customers in Mexico leading to a multi-tonne order of OxC-beta. Publication in the peer-reviewed NZVJ will further increase the value of the results with potential customers in several important dairy markets around the world.
Mastitis is one of the costliest diseases for treatment in the dairy industry, as animals infected with mastitis must be treated by antibiotics, requiring that the infected dairy cows be removed from milk production until fully healthy in order to ensure that their milk does not contain antibiotics.
About Avivagen
Avivagen is a life sciences corporation focused on developing and commercializing products for livestock, companion animal and human applications. By unlocking an overlooked facet of β-carotene activity, a path has been opened to safely and economically support immune function, thereby promoting general health and performance in animals. Avivagen 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 β-carotene and other carotenoids, compounds that give certain fruits and vegetables their bright colours. Through support of immune function the technology provides a non-antibiotic means of promoting health and growth. OxC-beta™ Livestock is a proprietary product shown to be an effective and economic alternative to the antibiotics commonly added to livestock feeds. The product is currently available for sale in the United States, Philippines, Taiwan, New Zealand, Thailand, Australia and Malaysia.
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 possibility that New Zealand will use OxC-beta Livestock in dairy production, that these results will lead to expected growth of demand and sales of OxC-beta within New Zealand or other markets in general, 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, neither New Zealand nor any other country is under any obligation to purchase product from Avivagen or to increase its purchases and 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 New Zealand and other markets in general 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. Readers are referred to the risk factors associated with the business of Avivagen set out in Avivagen’s most recent management’s discussion and analysis of financial condition available at www.SEDAR.com. 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
Chief Executive Officer
100 Sussex Drive, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada K1A 0R6
Head Office Phone: 613-949-8164
Website: www.avivagen.com
Copyright © 2021 Avivagen Inc. OxC-beta™ is a trademark of Avivagen Inc.
