• HOME
• BUSINESS
• COMPANIES

• Facebook
• Twitter
• Email
• Print
• Save

Freedom Foods milks Covid-19 treatment

Freedom Foods chief executive Michael Perich is hopeful a protein found in cows milk will become an effective treatment for Covid-19 after preliminary studies showed promising results. Picture: Tracee Lea

• EXCLUSIVE

  JARED LYNCH

  REPORTER

  
• AN HOUR AGO SEPTEMBER 3, 2021
• NO COMMENTS
• 

  AS MICHAEL PERICH OUTLINES FREEDOM FOODS’ PATH TO REDEMPTION HE HAS A GOAL IN SIGHT THAT COULD PROPEL THE COMPANY TO RICHES AND PUT THE SCANDAL THAT HAS PLAGUED THE COMPANY FIRMLY BEHIND IT.

  LACTOFERRIN HAS BEEN LIKENED TO WHITE GOLD, OR MORE ACCURATELY PINK GOLD, AND FOR FREEDOM IT IS THE WAY TO EL DORADO AND BENEDICTION IF CLINICAL TRIALS PROVE THE MILK PROTEIN IS A NATURAL INHIBITOR TO COVID-19.

  THE MILK PROTEIN HAS BEEN DUBBED THE NEW MANUKA HONEY, GIVEN ITS WIDE RANGING HEALTH PROPERTIES, AND PRELIMINARY STUDIES HAVE REVEALED IT SHOWS PROMISE AS AN EFFECTIVE COVID-19 TREATMENT.

  LACTOFERRIN SALES HAVE SOARED 215 PER CENT FOR FREEDOM IN THE PAST 12 MONTHS AND ARE TIPPED TO GET ANOTHER BOOST IF CLINICAL TRIALS SUPPORT THE HYPOTHESIS OF EARLY STUDIES. IF SUCCESSFUL IT WILL NOT ONLY BE A MAJOR BOON TO THE COMPANY, BUT ALSO FOR THE TOWN WHERE IT PRODUCES LACTOFERRIN: SHEPPARTON, WHICH IS AT THE EPICENTRE OF COVID-19 OUTBREAK THAT PLUNGED THE WHOLE OF REGIONAL VICTORIA INTO LOCKDOWN.

  BUT MR PERICH IS NOT ONE TO GET HIS HOPES UP TOO EARLY. CLINICAL TRIALS ARE A NOTORIOUSLY FICKLE BUSINESS, WHERE THE COST OF FAILURE IS HIGH. THINK OF THE PARTNERSHIP BETWEEN CSL AND THE UNIVERSITY OF QUEENSLAND TO DEVELOP A HOMEGROWN COVID VACCINE, WHICH WAS ABORTED AFTER TRIALS REVEALED IT CREATED FALSE POSITIVES TO HIV.

  THEN THIS WEEK STEM CELL-FOCUSED BIOTECH MESOBLAST WARNED INVESTORS IT MAY NEED MORE CASH, GIVEN ITS MARQUEE TREATMENT, REMESTEMCEL-L, IS YET TO CLEAR THE US FOOD AND DRUG ADMINISTRATIONS HIGH HURDLES.

  BUT MR PERICH HAS TAKEN HEART FROM NEW RESEARCH FROM THE UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN, WHICH FOUND THAT LACTOFERRIN INHIBITS COVID-19 IN SMALL CONCENTRATIONS AND FURTHERMORE WAS SAFE GIVEN THE PROTEIN WAS A NATURAL PRODUCT FOUND IN COW’S AND HUMAN MILK.

  “WE FOUND LACTOFERRIN HAD REMARKABLE EFFICACY FOR PREVENTING INFECTION, WORKING BETTER THAN ANYTHING ELSE WE OBSERVED,” SAID ONE OF THE RESEARCHERS, JONATHAN SEXTON, ASSISTANT PROFESSOR OF INTERNAL MEDICINE AT UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN.

  FREEDOM FOODS IS PERFORMING SIMILAR RESEARCH IN AUSTRALIA WITH NEWCASTLE UNIVERSITY. MR PERICH SAID THE HOPE IS LACTOFERRIN WILL BECOME A TREATMENT FOR COVID-19 PATIENTS — NOT A REPLACEMENT FOR A VACCINE.

  “VACCINATIONS ARE STILL KEY, BUT OUR VIEW IS THAT THIS GIVES THEM GREAT POTENTIAL, ESPECIALLY WHEN ITS IMMUNE SYSTEM BENEFITS IT HAS, PARTICULARLY WITH COVID-19,” MR PERICH SAID.

  LACTOFERRIN HAS BEEN DUBBED PINK GOLD BECAUSE OF ITS COLOUR AND ITS COSTLY PRODUCTION, WHICH COMMANDS HIGH PRICES. IT TAKES ABOUT 1000 LITRES OF MILK TO PRODUCE ABOUT ONE KILOGRAM OF THE PROTEIN, WHICH FOR MUCH OF THE PAST DECADE HAS BEEN A KEY INGREDIENT IN INFANT FORMULA BEFORE BREAKING OUT IN RECENT YEARS AS ITS OWN SUPPLEMENT.

  IF IT BECOMES A SUCCESSFUL COVID-19 TREATMENT IT WILL VINDICATE FREEDOM FOODS’ STRATEGY TO SLIM DOWN ITS OPERATIONS — WHICH INCLUDED SELLING ITS CEREAL AND SNACK DIVISION TO ARNOTTS FOR $20M LAST DECEMBER — SO IT COULD FOCUS ON DAIRY AND PLANT-BASED PROTEINS.

  IT COMES AFTER A TORRID TIME FOR FREEDOM AND SERIES OF MISSTEPS, WHICH INCLUDED FREEDOM AND MAJORITY SHAREHOLDER TONY PERICH SELLING THEIR 117 MILLION SHARES IN A2 MILK FOR $93M AT AN AVERAGE PRICE OF 77C A SHARE, FOLLOWING A FAILED AND BITTER TAKEOVER ATTEMPT FOR THE DAIRY COMPANY, SIX YEARS AGO.

  DESPITE A2’S SHARES DIVING FROM MORE THAN $20 TO $5.76 IN THE PAST YEAR, ITS CURRENT PRICE IS STILL WELL ABOVE 77C. MEANWHILE, THE CHIEF EXECUTIVE WHO OVERSAW THAT SALE, RORY MCLEOD, DEPARTED FREEDOM LAST YEAR AMID AN ACCOUNTING SCANDAL, WHICH PUNCHED A NEAR $600M HOLE IN ITS ACCOUNTS, TRIGGERING A SHAREHOLDER CLASS ACTION.

  MR PERICH HAS BEEN LEFT TO PICK UP THE PIECES AND IS MAKING PROGRESS. IN THE PAST YEAR UNDER HIS LEADERSHIP, FREEDOM HAS SLASHED ITS LOSS FROM $136.4M TO $38.8M, WHILE REVENUE FIRMED 8 PER CENT TO $559.1M.

  “THE RESULTS SHOWED THAT LAST YEAR WAS TRULY THE DEFINING YEAR FOR US AND WE‘VE HAD 141 PER CENT POSITIVE CHANGE IN OUR OPERATING EBITDA (EARNINGS BEFORE INTEREST, TAX, DEPRECIATION AND AMORTISATION) WITH A $76.4M TURNAROUND INTO A POSITIVE THIS YEAR BECAUSE WE’RE FOCUSING ON THE RIGHT PRODUCTS AND THE RIGHT MIX, WHICH IS EXACTLY WHAT WE TOLD THE MARKET WE WERE GOING TO DO,” MR PERICH SAID.

  JARED LYNCH