More than 100 of the nation’s leading parasitologists, veterinarians, industry and business leaders gathered at Camden's Belgenny Farm today to mark the official launch of an Australian-led, global breakthrough in animal health.
Australian-owned animal health product manufacturer, International Animal Health Products (IAHP), officially launched its biological control product for parasitic nematodes.
The product – which is particularly effective against barbers pole, as well as brown stomach worm, black scour worm, intestinal worm and thread necked worm – is based on a strain of Duddingtonia flagrans, a fungus that occurs naturally in the environment and is found all over the world.
The CSIRO identified strains of Duddingtonia flagrans as having potential for biological parasite control in the early 1990s.
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The event was hosted by IAHP chief executive officer, Chris Lawlor, and was the culmination of almost 20 years of research and development, along with millions of dollars in investment.
Addressing the lunchtime audience, Mr Lawlor said the release of BioWorma initially came about as a result of work being done by the CSIRO, where the opportunity presented itself to play an active role in the advancement of animal health, both domestically and around the world.
Through the targeting of intestinal parasites affecting sheep, cattle, goats and horses, Mr Lawlor said the opportunity to put Australian agriculture ahead of the curve was an exciting one.
“Globally, the losses from parasites would be in the tens of billions of dollars,” he said.
“I didn’t want to see the science to arrest this scourge developed overseas and then see Australian farmers having to buy it back.”
Even after the CSIRO discontinued its involvement in the project in 2004, Mr Lawlor refused to abandon the idea and continued pilot testing on his own property.
According to Mr Lawlor, the next two decades involved 19 trials and three different safety studies including a plethora of testing and an encyclopaedic volume of reports.
“It was something that had never been done before, so there was no rule book,” he said.
“It was like moving up through the levels of a video game.
“Each level was more and more difficult.”
Two decades on, and universally acknowledged as one of the most significant recent breakthroughs in area of parasitology, Mr Lawlor and his team’s work is about to have a major global economic and environmental impact, particularly in the area of agriculture where resistance to chemical drenches is now at alarming levels.
"The fact is we’ve put Australia at the forefront of scientific advancement in livestock parasitology,” he said.
“For the first time, we can now successfully treat multiple parasites in different grazing animals with a naturally occurring fungus – something that has never been done before.
“It has been a long and very difficult journey to not only develop and gain approval from various regulatory bodies around the world, but keep the research, development and technology right here in Australia.”
BioWorma has been approved for sale in Australia and New Zealand and the USA, where it will be released in early 2019, and Mr Lawlor said he hopes it will be available in Europe within the 12 to 18 months.
