Avianax and LEVOYA entered an agreement to develop business opportunities in the veterinary industry, with an initial focus in concluding a licensing agreement with an Animal Health company for ParvoONE, Avianax therapeutic antibodies for Canine Parvovirus.
Canine Parvovirus is a highly contagious and relatively common cause of acute, infectious GI illness in young and/or unvaccinated dogs. Despite almost universal vaccination, approximately 300,000 dogs are presented annually to US veterinary clinics with clinical parvovirus. In addition, many more cases of parvovirus occur in shelters and kennels every year.
Clinical Parvovirus mortality rates can exceed 90% if untreated.
There is currently no approved medication to specifically treat the viral infection, and recommended treatment is based exclusively on supportive care.
Under optimal conditions and with intensive care treated dogs can survive parvovirus infection, but mortality can still be significant. The cost of appropriate treatment is very high, and it can only be performed in veterinary hospitals that are equipped to provide intensive care.
ParvoONE consists of specific polyclonal antibodies (IgY) that can be administered by injection and potentially orally. It has been proven to substantially improve survival rates and reduce recovery time in dogs affected by clinical Parvovirus.
Over the last fifteen years Avianax worked with the University of North Dakota and leading public and private research centers to develop, fine-tune and test a technology to produce polyclonal IgY antibodies at commercial scale.
Several publications document the successful application of Avianax’s IgY antibodies against several infectious diseases in humans and animals.
LEVOYA has been retained by Avianax to establish a partnership to complete the development and registration of ParvoONE and enter an exclusive, global licensing agreement to bring the product to market.
Jim Schiltz, President and CEO of Avianax said: “During the years of working with the University of North Dakota we have recognized the tremendous potential of goose antibodies to treat several infectious diseases and we decided to focus on Parvovirus as our first commercial target. We know full well that to make it a success we need to work with a partner that has a significant market presence in Animal Health”
We’re very excited to represent Avianax and develop the partnership that will leverage this great technology to address an important unmet need in the veterinary market.
