Toronto-based Microbix Biosystems has entered into an agreement to license its proprietary Semen Sexing Technology (SST) to a major commercial breeder in China. The Chinese company – the Animal Fine Breeding Station of Hebei Province – is one of the leading suppliers to the livestock industry and will become the exclusive distributor of SST in that country.
Microbix' technology allows producers to determine the sex of livestock offspring resulting from artificial insemination. SST will allow Chinese dairy farmers to breed only female animals for their milking herds. Likewise, the technology will ensure that beef producers end up with only the required male animals for meat production. SST will allow China to expand its beef and dairy capacity at a much faster pace.
The demand for milk and beef in China is increasing dramatically as poultry is in decline due to the spread of avian flu and diets in that country are becoming more westernized. The price of milk, for example, has risen 60 percent over the past year in China. A new priority for the Chinese is the rapid development of their beef and dairy herds.
Last year, Microbix signed non-exclusive agreements with a number of artificial insemination (AI) companies based in Europe, North America and Australasia. These companies represent 13 per cent of the $2.5 billion global AI market in the commercial livestock industry. Today, the average price for unsexed dairy semen is about $20. Microbix estimates that sexed semen will demand a premium price of approximately two and a half times the price of the unsexed product.
On a commercial scale, the market for SST would be considered a blockbuster by traditional biotech or pharmaceutical standards. Unlike biopharmaceutical drug development, however, there is no regulatory process required to bring a semen sexing product to market. The product will readily integrate into established AI facilities and procedures.
Microbix announced earlier this month that the Company has been able to identify specific proteins that allow female-producing and male-producing sperm cells to be separated and that it has also developed the monoclonal antibodies that will be used to commercialize this process. This is the first time that sex-specific proteins have been positively identified. Microbix has filed a provisional patent on this discovery.