The Canada-based life science company announced that it was partnering with CSA Animal Nutrition to sell and distribute its non-mediated feed additive OxC-beta Livestock in the US. The partnership gives Avivagen Inc. access to about 20% of the global feed market.
The animal health and wellness-focused work the company does seeks to develop products for use with animals to support health, replace antibiotic in feeds, the company said.
Expanding feed additive sales into the US has been an interest for the company for some time, said Drew Basek, director of investor relations, Avivagen. However, the product approval process took some time to complete.
The company recently received a generally recognized as safe (GRAS) approval for the non-medicated feed additive, he told FeedNavigator. “It’s approved in New Zealand, Taiwan and Thailand, but it took some time to get it to the States,” he added.
The feed additive provides an oxidized beta-carotene copolymer compound; it is designed to tackle inflammation and boost the immune system, he said.
In a feeding trial with sows, use of the additive improved piglet weaning weight and reduced sow weight loss during lactation, the company reported.
It can provide an alternative for producers looking to replace an antibiotic growth promoter, Basek said. Those products are facing increasing regulation.
“It will be exciting times – we’ve been trying to do this for a while,” he added about the move into the US.
Market expansion and partnership with CSA
In addition to gaining approvals for use in the US, Avivagen is also collaborating with CSA on US market entry, said Basek.
“You can have a great product, but if you don’t have the relationships, it takes a while to get out there, he said. “We hope the sales will start ramping up.”
CSA provides management services to support producers with recommendations on the use of feed, premixes and additives, according to company information.
Avivagen has developed similar partnerships with companies in other countries as it has entered those markets, including with TLC Veterinary Services in Malaysia, UNAHCO in the Philippines and the Feed and Ingredients Technology HUB in Thailand, the company said.
The agreement with CSA focuses on the use of the feed additive with poultry, swine and dairy cows, said Basek. “With regards to dairy cattle, they’re going to be running some trials on their own, he added.
Part of the work that CSA is set to do through the partnership will be to run confirmatory trials using the feed additive with production species, he said.
In addition to developing a market presence for the feed supplement in the US and continuing to expand use in current markets, Avivagen is working to obtain regulatory approval in Mexico and Brazil, he said. Once those approvals are established, the company will look to partner with a distributor already known in those regions.
Production and use
Currently, the feed additive is manufactured at an overseas facility, said Basek. However, there is interest in building a production facility in the US depending on sales and market expansion.
The granulated additive was designed to be easy to mix into a feed, he said. When used with swine and poultry, the additive is intended to be used throughout the production cycle.
More work is being done to establish best practices when using the product in dairy cow feed, he said. “There’s a huge potential on the cattle front … there are so many things we’re learning now,” he added.
