Avivagen’s Asian partner UNAHCO continues to ramp-up use of OxC-beta™ Livestock with new large order

OTTAWA, Nov. 19, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Avivagen Inc. (TSXV:VIV) (“Avivagen”), is pleased to announce that its partner in the Philippines, UNAHCO, has purchased 2 metric tonnes of OxC-beta™ Livestock.  This follows a 2 metric tonne order delivered to UNAHCO in September 2018 and brings its year-to-date purchase of OxC-beta™ Livestock to 9.1 metric tonnes.

The order represents UNAHCO’s third large purchase from Avivagen and is indicative of UNAHCO’s increased adoption and endorsement of Avivagen’s OxC-beta™ Livestock product. UNAHCO has reaffirmed its intention of making quarterly purchases of OxC-beta™ Livestock, which has become a growing and recurring revenue stream for Avivagen. 

OxC-beta™ Livestock is a proprietary product shown to be effective and economic in replacing the antibiotics commonly added to livestock feeds.  OxC-beta™ Livestock is currently registered and available for sale in the Philippines, Taiwan, Thailand and New Zealand. Avivagen intends to accelerate market access and the commercial uptake of its OxC-beta™ Livestock product, a product that has the potential to eliminate the use of antibiotics as growth promoters in livestock feed, which is a problem that needs an urgent solution and which represents a multi-billion dollar market opportunity.

UNAHCO is the exclusive distributor for Avivagen’s OxC-beta™ Livestock in the Philippines, where it is now registered for use in all food animal species. The Philippines is an important feed market, with an estimated annual feed production of 17 million metric tonnes for 2017, up dramatically from 11.75 million metric tonnes in 2016ⁱ. The most important commercial livestock species in the Philippines are swine, followed by broiler poultry. Compared to Canada, the Philippines produces about the same amount of porkⁱⁱ and broiler poultryⁱⁱⁱ.

UNAHCO is the wholly-owned feed and veterinary subsidiary of Unilab Inc., the biggest pharmaceutical company in the Philippines. UNAHCO provides a broad range of animal healthcare and nutrition products and programs to meet the requirements of both commercial and individual farmers in the Philippines as well as abroad. It is a leading producer of pig and poultry feed and has a distribution network that serves more than 3,000 outlets, supported by more than 150 field personnel^iv.

About Avivagen
Avivagen is a life sciences corporation focused on developing and commercializing products for livestock, companion animal and human applications that, by safely supporting immune function, promote general health and performance.  It is a public corporation traded on the TSX Venture Exchange under the symbol VIV and is headquartered in Ottawa, Canada, based in partnership facilities of the National Research Council of Canada and Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island. For more information, visit www.avivagen.com. The contents of the website are expressly not incorporated by reference in this press release.

About OxC-beta™ Technology and OxC-beta™ Livestock
Avivagen’s OxC-beta™ technology is derived from Avivagen discoveries about carotenoids, compounds that give certain fruits and vegetables their bright colours, and is a non-antibiotic means of maintaining optimal health and growth. OxC-beta™ Livestock is a proprietary product shown to be effective and economic in replacing the antibiotics commonly added to livestock feeds. OxC-beta™ Livestock is currently registered and available for sale in the Philippines, Taiwan, Thailand and New Zealand.

Avivagen’s OxC-beta™ Livestock product is safe, effective and could fulfill the global mandate to remove all in-feed antibiotics as growth promoters. Numerous international livestock trials with poultry and swine using OxC-beta™ Livestock have proven that the product performs as well as, and, sometimes, in some aspects, better than in-feed antibiotics.

Forward Looking Statements
This news release includes certain forward-looking statements that are based upon the current expectations of management. Forward-looking statements involve risks and uncertainties associated with the business of Avivagen Inc. and the environment in which the business operates. Any statements contained herein that are not statements of historical facts may be deemed to be forward-looking, including those identified by the expressions “aim”, “anticipate”, “appear”, “believe”, “consider”, “could”, “estimate”, “expect”, “if”, “intend”, “goal”, “hope”, “likely”, “may”, “plan”, “possibly”, “potentially”, “pursue”, “seem”, “should”, “whether”, “will”, “would” and similar expressions. Statements set out in this news release relating to the expectation that UNAHCO will continue to order product at the current rate or increase orders, the possibility for deployment or launch of OxC-beta™ Livestock in new jurisdictions around the world or for it to replace antibiotics in livestock feeds as well as fill a critical need for health support in certain livestock applications where antibiotics are precluded, Avivagen’s intention to accelerate market access and the commercial uptake of its OxC-beta™ Livestock product and the size of market opportunities are all forward-looking statements. These forward-looking statements are subject to a number of risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results or events to differ materially from current expectations. For instance, UNAHCO is under no obligation to continue purchasing product from Avivagen or to increase its purchases and it could cease or reduce its purchases at any time, Avivagen’s products may not gain market acceptance or regulatory approval in new jurisdictions or for new applications and may not be widely accepted as a replacement for antibiotics in livestock feeds, new market access may not occur in the timeline or manner expected by Avivagen and the market opportunities may not be as large as Avivagen anticipates due to many factors, many of which are outside of Avivagen’s control.   Except as required by law, Avivagen assumes no obligation to update the forward-looking statements, or to update the reasons why actual results could differ from those reflected in the forward-looking statements.

Neither TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

For more information:
Avivagen Inc.
Drew Basek
Director of Investor Relations
100 Sussex Drive, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada K1A 0R6
Phone: 416-540-0733
E-mail: d.basek@avivagen.com

Kym Anthony
Chairman & Interim CEO
100 Sussex Drive, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada K1A 0R6
Head Office Phone: 613-949-8164
Website: www.avivagen.com

Copyright © 2018 Avivagen Inc. OxC-beta™ is a trademark of Avivagen Inc.

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ⁱ USDA foreign Agriculture Service, Gain Report#1801 page 7.
https://gain.fas.usda.gov/Recent GAIN Publications/Grain and Feed Annual_Manila_Philippines_3-9-2018.pdf

ⁱⁱ See this link for Canadian swine production, https://www.statista.com/statistics/273232/net-pork-production-worldwide-by-country/

ⁱⁱⁱ Canada produced 1.2 million metric tonnes of broiler meat in 2017: see reference https://www.statista.com/statistics/474831/broiler-meat-production-canada/

^iv Provided by UNAHCO.