Chemeq drug helps pigs gain weight in trial

Chemeq’s polymeric antimicrobial has proved itself in a NZ trial of 584 21-day old weaner pigs, improving average daily weight gain, feed conversion and disease control.

The pigs showed a 7per cent improvement in average daily weight gain when compared to a group which was given apramycin – the most the most commonly-used antibiotic for post-weaning colibacillosis -- and a 4 per cent improvement over a control group which received neither treatment.

This translated to a 10 per cent improvement in feed conversion ratio in Chemeq-fed pigs when compared to apramycin-fed pigs, and an 11 per cent improvement over the control group, the company said.

Chemeq-fed pigs also required 54 per cent fewer additional antibiotic injections than apramycin-fed pigs, and 84 per cent fewer than the control group.

“Within this very low-margin industry, results of even 1 per cent improvement are important and lead to extra profits that are significant and substantial for the pig industry,” said chairman and CEO Dr Graeme Melrose.

The results follows last month’s trial of the antimicrobial in Australian poultry, which improved weight gain by an average of 2.5 per cent over a 39-day trial, and reduced mortality by 25 per cent.

Chemeq is in the final stages of commissioning a plant to manufacture its antimicrobials in Rockingham, south of Perth. It announced recently that the first two steps in the manufacturing process -- production of the catalyst and production of the monomer -- had been achieved.

Based on FDA information, Chemeq estimates that the worldwide market for pig antimicrobials is $4 billion per annum. The market for poultry antimicrobials is estimated at $5 billion per annum. The Chemeq antimicrobial has already been approved for sale in the pig industry in New Zealand and South Africa.