Press Releases

Friday 13 October 2006

Merial and Pfizer led the pack at Animal Pharm's inaugural Animal Health Industry Excellence Awards, held in London's Docklands on October 12th.

At a black-tie ceremony hosted by “television vet” Trude Mostue, Pfizer scooped the Animal Health Company of the Year award, beating off stiff competition from Heska, which has been celebrating its move into profitability, and Prionics which has also had an outstanding year. The award was sponsored by Norbrook.

The Lifetime Achievement Award, sponsored by iAdvantage and presented by the chairman of IFAH-Europe’s Committee of National Associations Philip Sketchley, went to Dr Peter Holdsworth, inaugural chief executive of the new Australian industry association, the Animal Health Alliance and a leading force behind the World Association for the Advancement of Veterinary Parasitology.

Dr Holdsworth beat off some very stiff competition from Norbrook founder Lord Ballyedmond, Bruce Vivash Jones, from Vivash Jones Consulting, Professor Doctor Herbert Thomas from Bayer Animal Health and Dr Hiram Lasher from Lasher Associates.

Merial won awards for the award for Best New Livestock Product for VAXXITEK HVT + IBD, an innovative poultry vaccine that offers immunity against Marek’s and Gumboro diseases, and best new equine veterinary product for EQUIOXX/PREVICOX, a non-steroidal anti-inflammatory aimed at equine osteoarthritis. The two awards were sponsored by IfTA and Doane Market Research respectively.

Merial, along with business partners Bioject, also walked away with the award for the Best Drug Delivery Advance, with PureVax, a feline rabies vaccine that uses needle-free technology developed by Bioject. The category was sponsored by CF Grass Consulting.

The company beat off competition from Vétoquinol for its Clavaseptin palatable tablets, and Novartis subsidiary Aqua Health for its DNA vaccine Apex-IHN for salmon.

Velcera Pharmaceuticals won the Licensing Deal of the Year award, for its licensing deal with NovaDel Pharma over its transmucosal oral spray drug delivery technology. The award was sponsored by Wood Mackenzie.

The company beat off competition from Imugene and Merial in their deal over the Poultry Productivity Encancer, and Rockeby BioMed and Pacific Biotech for a licensing deal over the Rockeby Avian Influenza Virus and Influenza A antigen test kit.

The award for Best Supporting Role, sponsored by Dow AgroSciences, went to leading contract research firm Klifovet. The company succeeded against competition from the likes of Moredun, Triveritas, and lawyers Hogan and Hartson.

Hogan and Hartson themselves were the sponsors of the award for Achievement or Contribution by a Small Business, which went to UK company Genitrix Animal Health and Nutrition. Genitrix succeeded in a hotly contested category against competition from Guildhay, Karizoo and the Bioactive Division of Pancosma.

UK distribution specialist Centaur Services scooped the Best Manufacturing/Production Project Award for its application of 2D barcode technology, beating Alltech which entered its São Pedro do Ivaí Yeast Production Facility, and Dow AgroSciences which entered its Plant-Made Vaccine breakthrough. The category was sponsored by MVP Laboratories and Animal Pharm editor Ben Deighton presented it on the company’s behalf.

Indian Immunologicals' remarkable program to make cattle vaccination affordable and accessible to rural Indian farmers, Operation Pratirodh, won the Corporate Social Responsibility award, which was sponsored by Informa Life Sciences. Indian Immunologicals triumphed over strong competition from Pfizer Animal Health for its Corporate Social Responsibility Program, Neomec Project Shiksha and Polivet Journal, from Intas Pharmaceuticals. Judges described the programme as having the potential to bring practical health benefits to the largest national dairy herd in the world. 

www.worldvet.org

September 1, 2006

 C.F. Grass Consulting Expands Coverage Of Swine Vaccine & Antibiotic Markets To 16 Countries

St. Louis, Missouri, Sept. 1 / -- C.F. Grass Consulting (www.cfgrassconsulting.com) is expanding its coverage of the swine health market for its 2006/07 reporting cycle.

The company is focusing its efforts on the most dynamic and important country markets. These are: USA, Mexico, Canada, Brazil, the Netherlands, France, Spain, Germany, Denmark, Poland, South Korea, Vietnam, Taiwan, China, Japan, and Thailand. These 16 countries account for over 90 percent of the global market for swine vaccines and antibacterials.

Corey Grass, president of C.F. Grass Consulting, said: “Our expansion is following the needs of our customers. They have requested that we extend our unique reporting to each of these markets – and we are responding to those requests.”

A prospectus is now available. Early order and volume discounts are available. Reports will be delivered in the first quarter of 2007.

C.F. Grass Consulting is a proud sponsor of the 2006 Animal Pharm Awards.

Contact: Corey Grass, sales@cfgrassconsulting.com, 636-527-0291

September 6, 2006

Rockeby bird flu test agreement shortlisted for Llicensing Deal of the Year award

Rockeby biomed’s work in licensing and marketing its avian flu rapid test has been recognised globally, leading it to be shortlisted for the “Licensing Deal of the Year Award” Category under the prestigious Animal Pharm Report’s inaugural Animal Pharm Industry Excellence Awards.

“The award nomination draws attention to how Rockeby’s licensing deal with Pacific Biotech  has delivered Rockeby a new competitive edge in the market, and the opportunity for improved long-term financial return”, said Rockeby chief executive Dr Sze-Wee Tan.

“The timely and strategic licensing agreement with Pacific Biotech has positioned Rockeby in the bird flu test market place and has made way for the company to promote its tests as being easy to use and providing fast response times,” said Dr Tan.

In May this year Rockeby signed a Memorandum of Understanding with Pacific Biotech, whereby Pacific Biotech assigned the ownership of the avian and human influenza rapid diagnostic tests to Rockeby. Following the satisfactory completion of due diligence, the Company executed the full agreement with Pacific Biotech on 28th August 2006.

Rockeby will pay an upfront fee and a single digit royalty. The figures cannot be disclosed under a confidentiality agreement between the parties. The key components of the deal are:

• Rockeby has acquired all the intellectual property relating to the Vet-Smart Avian Influenza Virus and Bioline Human Influenza A tests, and its related manufacturing technology. These are marketed respectively as the Rockeby Avian Influenza Virus rapid test and Rockeby Human Influenza A Virus rapid test;
• Rockeby will pay an initial upfront fee and a royalty on sales of these products based on audited accounts;
• Rockeby acquired the rights globally, significantly extending opportunities to increase sales;
• A manufacturing agreement with Pacific Biotech will result in a reduction in the cost of goods sold by Rockeby of approximately 70%;
• Rockeby must order a minimum annual quantity of 100,000 of the Avian Influenza Virus test and 50,000 of the Human Influenza A Virus rapid test; and
• The term of the assignment is for an initial three years with an automatic extension for another three years.

With the spread of the H5N1 virus, commonly referred to as the avian or bird flu, this test has become an important product in the Rockeby portfolio of rapid tests and is expected to be a major contributor to revenue growth over the next few years.

“Rockeby has a suite of rapid diagnostic tests and is now considered a leading provider of a test to quickly detect the avian flu which is spreading at an alarming pace,” said Dr Tan.

“By acquiring the rights for these tests from our current licensor we have much greater scope to respond to the demand for both the avian and human tests, and to control costs which will ensure we improve our sales margins.”

The two test kits are for the detection of influenza A virus, including the H5N1 subtype, the agent that causes the bird flu that has been found to infect humans who come into close contact with birds, causing serious and often fatal disease.

One of the tests is a rapid screening method that measures bird flu proteins in samples taken from human nose or throat. The other is a veterinary diagnostic for on-site testing of bird faeces.

Both tests rely on immunological detection of viral protein and have the advantage of being self-contained and yielding the result within 10 minutes of application of the sample to the testing device.

The Animal Pharm Industry Excellence Awards program (http://www.animalpharmawards.com) is designed to identify the best of those new technologies and the best of the companies that are developing them.

The winner of the award will be announced in London on 12 October and the judging panel includes Pedro Lichtinger, President of Pfizer Animal Health and Dr Robert Grieve, founder and chief executive of Heska.

About Rockeby biomed:
Rockeby biomed Limited is an ASX-listed (ASX: RBY) Singapore based biotechnology company specializing in research, development and marketing of rapid testing technologies for infectious disease in humans and animals. The company’s core specialization is the development of rapid testing diagnostics.

For further information please contact:
Dr Sze-Wee Tan                                                           
Lou Caruana
Chief executive                                                           
Monsoon Communications
Rockeby biomed Ltd                                                    
0413 486 155
+65-6735-2363