Immuron, Monash partner to develop colostrum therapy

Immuron (ASX:IMC) has partnered with Monash University to develop products aimed at prevention and treatment of Clostridium difficile (C. difficile) infections.

Monash and the Melbourne-based biopharmaceutical company will collaborate on a new method of treating the infections, which cause the death of an estimated 28,000 people annually in the US alone.

C. difficile infections most commonly occur in hospitals and long-term care facilities. The bacteria involved produce toxins which cause inflammation of the colon.

Monash University has received government funding for the project through an ARC Linkage grant. Under the terms of the collaboration, Immuron and Monash will jointly own the resulting products, with Immuron taking global commercialisation rights.

Products developed under the partnership will be based on Immuron's hyper-immune colostrum platform technology.

Colostrum is the first milk of a cow after a calf is delivered, which is naturally high in antibodies.

Immuron harvests antibodies from the first post-partum milking of dairy cows immunised with the vaccines it has developed. The resulting colostrum is freeze-dried and turned into a powder.

The same platform was used to develop Immuron's debut OTC antibody product, Travelan. A traveller's diarrhoea preventative treatment, Travelan targets enterotoxigenic E. coli - the leading cause of the condition.

Late last year, Immuron signed a distribution deal for Travelan covering Canada, Latin America and sub-Saharan Africa.

The deal, with Canadian pharmaceutical company Paladin Labs, is potentially worth over $100 million.

Immuron (ASX:IMC) shares were up 2.44% during Tuesday afternoon's trading at $0.042, after an 8.89% decline the day before.