re: tip: todays daytrade !!!!up from 3 to 3.5c Avian Bird Flu...

re: tip: todays daytrade !!!!up from 3 to 3.5c Avian Bird Flu test generates new opportunities for Rockeby
Biomed
21 November 2005: The announcement by Rockeby biomed on 11 November
regarding the company's exclusive marketing and distribution rights to two rapid tests
for bird flu has generated considerable interest worldwide.
Rockeby has also confirmed it has received the first stock of the test and is expected
to begin distribution in South East Asia by 1st December 2005
Rockeby is currently assessing a number of new opportunities following significant
world wide interest in the Rockeby Avian H5N1 Virus Antigen Test. These include:
· Numerous requests for both products as they were launched and promoted at
the Medica International Trade Fair and Congress in Dusseldorf Germany,
from 16 to 19 November 2005.
· The supply of the poultry test to the largest poultry producer in Jordan in the
Middle East, which handles about 10 million birds per year.
· A Japanese maker of veterinary medicinal products, has express interest in
distributing the Avian Influenza test in Japan and other Asian countries. They
will also apply for the product registration of the test in Japan on Rockeby’s
behalf. The Japanese company has been engaged in production of
recombinant vaccine against H5N1 avian influenza.
· The Indonesian government’s Veterinary department.
· A veterinary practice in East Malaysia that tends to agricultural animals has
expressed interest in obtaining the tests, or acting as the local distributor if the
territory is not already covered.
"Rockeby's new avian flu test kits clearly meet a desperate need for a quick, reliable
means of screening for infection. Companies and governments around the world are
very keen to minimize the potential for bird flu infections within their flocks and its
spread to humans," said Dr Sze-Wee Tan, chief executive of Rockeby. "Our kits can
assist them to achieve this goal."
"The World Health Organization has recently highlighted the weakness of routine
veterinary surveillance in many countries, a situation that has been exacerbated by
the lack of a suitable, easy to use test," he said.
Additionally, Rockeby will participate in a clinical evaluation trial being conducted
jointly by the Murdoch University’s School of Veterinary and Biomedical Sciences
together with representatives from the Agri-Food and Veterinary Authority of
Singapore and the Agriculture Fisheries and Conservation Department, Hong Kong
SAR Government. They will conduct a comparative evaluation of the sensitivity of the
Avian Influenza Virus antigen detection tests on H5N1 infected swabs from various
bird species. This includes cloacal swabs, cloacal plus tracheal swabs or fresh faecel
swabs from chickens, various other land based poultry, ducks and geese and various
wild birds. The trial will be conducted in December in Hong Kong.
Rockeby's new tests are for the detection of subtype H5N1 of influenza A virus, 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 advantages
of being self-contained and yielding the result within 10 minutes of application of the
sample to the testing device.
About bird flu subtype H5N1
Subtype H5N1 has been shown recently to infect humans and trigger an aggressive
clinical response, causing severe disease that often proves fatal, even in previously
healthy adults and children.
Influenza experts worldwide are concerned that H5N1 has met two of the three
criteria for a global outbreak of bird flu in humans, or so-called 'pandemic', and many
believe that it is only a matter of time before such an outbreak occurs.
The two criteria are that H5N1 is a new form of virus and it causes serious disease in
humans. At this stage, it is not highly infectious and readily transmitted between
humans, but mutation may change that situation.
To date, the 100 or so people known to have been infected with bird flu (about 50%
of whom died as a result) have had direct contact with birds and their faeces.
Domestic ducks have become 'silent' reservoirs of the virus – they shed a high
number of viral particles in their faeces, but show no symptoms of the disease.
About Rockeby biomed:
Rockeby biomed Limited is an ASX-listed (ASX: RBY) biotechnology company
engaged primarily in the research, development and marketing of products for the
diagnosis and treatment of fungal infections in humans. The company's main market
is that of in-vitro diagnostic testing which covers serology tests in hospitals as well as
point-of-care products for use by consumers or health professionals operating
outside hospitals.
For further information, please contact:
Media: Company:
Rebecca Wilson, Buchan
(02) 99237 2800 / 0417 382 391
[email protected]
Dr Sze-Wee Tan, Managing Director
+65 6735 2363
[email protected]