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Company Information for Aqua Bounty Technologies
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 AIM; ABTX
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Company Statement
Aqua Bounty Technologies is a biotechnology company focused on improving productivity in commercial aquaculture, a $60-billion industry undergoing rapid expansion worldwide. Our objective is to apply revolutionary discoveries in the life-sciences to transform the economics of seafood production by radically shortening production horizons and extending yields through the use of leading edge molecular technologies. Aqua Bounty operates through a corporate office in suburban Boston, Massachusetts and two wholly owned subsidiaries, Aqua Bounty Canada, in St. John’s, Newfoundland, and Aqua Bounty Pacific, in San Diego, California.
Aqua Bounty Pacific is the research and development center for our Animal Health and Productivity program, focusing on anti-infectives and therapeutics for shrimp and finfish and on improving shrimp genetics.
Aqua Bounty Canada operates the AquAdvantage™ Broodstock program, producing extraordinarily fast growing, advanced hybrid salmon and trout ready for harvest in half the time required for existing commercial lines.
The Company maintains modern biotechnology laboratories at St. John’s and San Diego, and operates a modern fish hatchery on a 3.5 acre site on Prince Edward Island. This facility, with a present capacity of 100,000 smolt, is one of the few certified disease-free aquaculture facilities in Atlantic Canada, a regulatory status that will allow ABT to export fish eggs, milt and fry to most countries of the world.
Company Diagram
Current Operations
Shrimp IMS
Shrimp IMS is a novel protein-based therapeutic feed additive that stimulates the natural immune system of shrimp resulting in significantly enhanced disease resistance. Several years of laboratory evaluations and controlled disease challenges followed by field trials in Thailand, Belize, Ecuador and Mexico demonstrated consistent improvements in survival of farmed shrimp treated with Shrimp IMS. Shrimp IMS functions by stimulating production of haemocytes, the shrimp’s first line of defense against invading disease organisms. In fact, a unique feature of Shrimp IMS that distinguishes it from traditional, first generation immunostimulants is the ability of the end user to evaluate its efficacy by quantifying haemocytes in shrimp haemolymph during the course of the production crop. Empowered with the confidence that the shrimp’s immune defenses are fortified by IMS, farmers are able to prolong their production cycles, even in the presence of disease events, in order to reach the larger, more commercially lucrative market sizes of shrimp.
Shrimp IMS is delivered to shrimp in hatcheries via commercial larval feeds containing IMS, and to shrimp in ponds via readily available pelleted growout feed containing IMS.
For more information please email: shrimp-products@aquabounty.com
VPX Viral Blocker
VPX Viral Blocker is a protein based therapeutic for shrimp that prevents infection by the deadly White Spot virus (WSSV) by effectively blocking entry of the virus into shrimp. WSSV is a catastrophic shrimp disease that is found in almost every country where shrimp is farmed, and which has caused economic losses of billions of dollars in the global shrimp aquaculture industry. The Company has completed laboratory evaluations of VPX, and is currently optimizing a manufacturing system in preparation for field trials in 2006. Laboratory tests with VPX have shown that survival of VPX protected shrimp challenged with WSSV can approach 100%.
For more information please email: shrimp-products@aquabounty.com
AquAdvantage™ Diagnostics
SYBR Shrimp Diagnostic Test Kit
The SYBR Shrimp test kit is one of the most sensitive shrimp disease diagnostic and detection kits currently available in the market place. Using advanced PCR technology, the kit can detect very low levels of up to five of the most common shrimp viruses in as little as two hours. Owing to its ability to detect these viruses at the molecular level, SYBR Shrimp diagnostic kits can provide producers advanced warning for mitigation of crop loss through disease management measures, well in advance of epizootic disease outbreaks. The highly sensitivity nature of the diagnostic kits lends itself to heightened disease surveillance in biosecure production systems where even the smallest presence of disease organisms can reek havoc. SYBR Shrimp diagnostic kits also provide an excellent complement to both VPX and IMS, where a positive test kit diagnosis will encourage use of the therapeutic products in disease management and prevention.
SYBR Shrimp diagnostic kits are flexibly configured for use with both traditional PCR and the newer “real time” quantitative PCR technologies. The latter provides the kit with detection sensitivity that is enhanced over 100 fold compared with the older technologies. It also delivers a more precise and measurable estimate of the pathogen loading in the sample, provides enhanced specificity, and is particularly useful in the detection of rare targets. In fact, the SYBR Shrimp kits are the first aquatic diagnostic tool to work optimally with quantitative PCR. In addition to the White Spot virus (WSSV), up to four additional viruses that affect the shrimp farming industry can be detected, with wider target detection capability.
For more information about SYBR Shrimp diagnostic kits, prices and configurations, or if you would like to place an order email: kit-info@aquabounty.com
Salmon Therapeutics and Diagnostics
Aqua Bounty is developing improved variants of two critical salmon vaccines, a multivalent vaccine for salmon, as well as an antifungal to protect fish eggs in aquaculture settings. As part of its diagnostics laboratory development effort, Aqua Bounty is also developing diagnostics capabilities to detect up to 5 of the most common diseases in salmon.
AquAdvantage™ Broodstock Program
Aqua Bounty is also developing advanced-hybrid salmon, trout, and tilapia broodstock engineered to grow faster than traditional broodstock. AquAdvantage™ fish reach market size twice as fast and convert feed into body mass 10% – 30% more efficiently than traditional broodstock. These improvements provide both a highly compelling economic benefit to farmers (reduced growing cycle, better feed efficiency) as well as benefits to the environment from reduced release of waste products, faster fallowing cycles and potential improvement of the economic viability of inland operations, thereby mitigating the need for more environmentally consequential ocean pens. The fish are also neutered so the threat of interbreeding with native populations, a major recent concern in salmon farming, is avoided.
As demonstrated in the growth chart above, the AquAdvantage™ fish grow faster and reach mature size earlier than standard fish, but they do not grow to be larger. Mature AquAdvantage™ fish are effectively identical and indistinguishable by the consumer in all respects to their conventional counterparts.
Ongoing research is expanding the application of the AquAdvantage™ technology to other finfish and crustaceans and is focused on identifying other desirable traits such as disease resistance and cold tolerance. In shrimp, for example, a “forced-selection” technique has enabled the Company to identify specific genetic markers that correlate with increased growth rates and good health of P. stylirostris, a popular white shrimp.
For more information please email: broodstock@aquabounty.com
Geographical Spread
Aqua Bounty operates through a corporate office in suburban Boston, Massachusetts and two wholly owned subsidiaries, Aqua Bounty Canada, in St. John's, Newfoundland, and Aqua Bounty Pacific, in San Diego, California.
Board of Directors and Key Management
| Richard J. Clothier | Non-Executive Director, Chariman of the Board |
| Elliot Entis | Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer |
| Tom Royal | Chief Operating Officer |
| Dr. Kurt Klimpel | Chief Technical Officer |
| Joseph P. Hernon, CPA | Chief Financial Officer |
| Richard L. Huber | Non-Executive Director |
| Dr David Stevens PhD, DVM | Non-Executive Director |
| Dr Eric Steiner MD, MBA | Non-Executive Director |
| William Marcus | Non-Executive Director |
| Lou Barnett | Non-Executive Director |
| Joseph McGonigle | Vice President of External Affairs |
| Henry Clifford | Vice-President, Sales & Marketing |
| Dr. Michael D. Erisman | Vice President of Product Development |
Company Address935 Main Street
|
Additional Address/Key ContactAqua Bounty Canada Inc. |
Capital13,513,513 million common as at 15 March 2006 |
Annual General Meeting26 June 2007 |
Nominated BrokersNomura Code Securities Limited | Nominated AdvisorsNomura Code Securities Limited |
Most Recent Statement
04/02/08 - Aqua Bounty Signs Term Sheet For Trialing ProValeTM In Chile30/05/07 - Preliminary Results Statement for the Year Ended 31 December 2006 (PDF)
19/05/07 - New Appointments
15/05/07 - TRADING UPDATE
15/05/07 - Ready-mix Shrimp IMS TM Emulsion in Beta Testing
19/04/07 - Aqua Bounty Technologies Announces Date of 2007 Annual General Meeting