In a letter to shareholders, Cameron Groome, CEO of Avivagen (TSX-V:VIV), provided and update about the company and its business plans.
Mr. Groome said Avivagen continues the process of commercializing its non-antibiotic and naturally-occurring products, based on OxC-beta technology that, among their uses, are showing efficacy as a replacement for antibiotics in helping to maintain optimal health and growth in livestock.
“We believe more strongly than ever in the value of our products following the discovery of widespread and readily-transmitted resistance to a commonly-used class of livestock antibiotic, known to industry as colistin or polymyxin and better known to consumers for being a part of Polysporin antibacterial products,” Mr. Groome said.
He also citied an article in the November issue of the journal, Lancet Infectious Diseases, based on work by Chinese researchers, who found bacteria have developed resistance to that class of antibiotics and are spreading. They found the bug in livestock, people and as much as 28% of meat samples tested.
Closer to home, he said it was very recently announced that Canadian meat is also impacted. Samples of ground beef from Ontario were found to contain bacteria with the same antibiotic-resistance reported in China.
