merial deal, page-2

There are 46bn chickens produced for the global meat
industry each year. The poultry industry spends
annually over US$500m on growth enhancers.
Farmers rely on antibiotics to maintain the health and
weight of livestock. Recent trial data indicates that
IMU has a product that is more efficient in increasing
the weight of poultry than antibiotics. IMU carried out
a trial on 900 birds comparing eight different
combinations of dose and frequency of the compound.
Poultry administered both antibiotics and IMU
compound increased weights by 9.5 to 13.75% in
comparison to poultry just on antibiotics. Poultry just
given the IMU compound produced weight gains of
7.2 to 13.2% compared to birds on antibiotics. The
compound therefore produces a significant increase in
weight for poultry farmers compared to antibiotics
The next stage is to use a contract manufacturer to
produce a masterseed. Masterseed is the parent seed
stock from which all future commercial batches of
product will be manufactured. This next step of
commercialisation is expected to be completed by 1Q
CY05. Further regulatory trials will determine the
potency, purity and shelf life of the masterseed. Large
scale trials of up to 10,000 birds are should begin in
CY05 to provide a detailed result on the commercial
effectiveness of the compound. The data gained will
help obtain Australian approval and lead to the
commercialisation of the product with revenue
targeted for CY2006.