Oops did I say we never get any press coverage I need to take it...

Oops did I say we never get any press coverage
I need to take it back

Awarua pig trial could be closed
HANNAH MCLEOD
Last updated 16:57, August 24 2016

Mayor Tim Shadbolt with his beloved Auckland Island pigs.
Barry Harcourt
Mayor Tim Shadbolt with his beloved Auckland Island pigs.

Pigs rescued by the mayor which could help save lives may soon be retired, as the company which runs the Auckland Island Pig facility at Awarua considers closing it down.
The facility, owned by Diatranz Otsuka Limited (DOL) is home to about 30 pigs, which have been used to develop a drug to help treat type-1 diabetes.
On Wednesday, DOL general manager Shaun Wynyard said the company was in the throes of a consultation over the closure of the facility.
Auckland Island pigs in the secret quarintine facility near Invercargill

"While we are working through the employment process with the five full-time and two part-time employees, no final decision has been made."
The development of the drug, named DIABECELL, would be moved to the United States for commercial reasons, Wynyard said.
"The facility is not required any longer ... the pigs are now no longer required."
The company would have access to other animals in the US for any further development needed, he said.
He could not elaborate on what would happen to the buildings and land at Awarua until a decision and further investigations were made, but the intention was to rehome the pigs, not to sell them, he said.
"Should the decision be made to close the facility we will work with various parties including the Southern Heirloom Breeds Trust to rehome the pigs."
Invercargill city mayor Tim Shadbolt came under fire for using money from the mayoral contingency fund to pay for feed for the pigs when they were brought to Awarua by Living Cell Technologies in 1999.

At the time, Living Cell Technologies was using the pigs to develop cell implant therapy to treat diabetes, but the company's involvement later changed to a focus on developing a drug to treat the symptom's of Parkinson's.

DOL became the company which took control of the diabetes trial, and the facility at Awarua.
Wynyard said he had left messages and emailed Shadbolt to let him know of the company's position, but was yet to hear back from him.

Living Cell Technologies chief executive Ken Taylor said the company had not been involved in the diabetes trial at Awarua for some time, but instead had focused on development of a drug to help ease the symptoms of Parkinson's disease.

That development had been undertaken with Auckland Island pigs at an Auckland facility.
The decision whether or not to close the Awarua facility would be solely that of DOL, as it was entirely run by that company, Taylor said.

Any closure of the Awarua plant would have no impact on the Parkinson's trial, he said.
Shadbolt could not immediately be reached for comment.


Seems one viewer of the article is not impressed

loral
'Keep development in the USA so they can keep  ripping  NZ off with their high charges and extended patents'

Obviously has no idea

http://www.stuff.co.nz/southland-times/news/83527303/awarua-pig-trial-could-be-closed