re: markfnhell and noncondom wearer The Poultry Productivity...

re: markfnhell and noncondom wearer The Poultry Productivity Enhancer’s Market Potential
On a global scale the annual production of broiler meat is 50.5 million metric tonnes derived from approximately 40 billion birds. The commercial broiler industry involves the rearing of massive numbers of birds in purpose built facilities. In the US and Europe the industry has become highly consolidated and vertically integrated. As a result, producers have become extremely efficient.

The intensive confined rearing of tens of thousands of birds in large sheds presents major health management challenges for producers. Profit margins are highly dependant on production efficiency. This efficiency is in turn dependent on the number of birds surviving to marketable age, the corresponding rate of weight gain, feed conversion ratios and cost of treatments to prevent or reduce disease or to promote healthy growth.

In addition to animal welfare issues, illness or death have a serious negative impact on profitability. In these intensive production industries, animal health treatments are assessed primarily on cost-benefit.

Improvements in productivity are measured in fractions of cents and percentages. Producers assess the cost of treatments against the value of the improved output and productivity achieved. By comparison, the improvements delivered by Imugene’s Poultry Productivity Enhancer vaccine are double-digit benefits.

Diseases in the poultry flock can devastate commercial outcomes. In general, the incidence and severity of disease is increased with higher stocking density, dietary changes, ventilation and stress such as high or low shed temperatures. Profitability margins are reduced by disease due to reduced growth, reduced feed conversion, costs of drugs and labour costs of treatment.

Antibiotics are currently added to poultry feed as growth promotants to protect birds against bacterial infections. Until the development of Imugene’s vaccine, there are very few alternatives to antibiotics as a preventative treatment for bacterial disease. Consequently, antibiotics have and continue to be routinely added to feed for poultry production to protect birds against infections and avoid production losses.

Consumers and regulators are demanding chickens free of antibiotic or chemical residues. Imugene’s product is biological and therefore non-chemical, non antibiotic and residue free.

An initiative announced by the European Union in March 2002 calls for banning all remaining antibiotics used as growth promotants commencing in January 2006. This regulatory ban combined with public pressure for chickens free of drugs and chemicals has increased the demand for alternatives that provide disease prevention, healthy and safe growth promotion and improved feed efficiencies. This provides a highly receptive market for Imugene.

Imugene’s products are biological treatments and therefore production costs are significantly cheaper than chemical or antibiotic growth promotants. The Poultry Productivity Enhancer is suitable for mass administration in water, feed, injected into eggs, or by aerosol spray.