29/01/09 Neogen Corporation and Chr. Hansen signed an extensive distribution agreement on natural, non-antibiotic solutions for the swine and poultry sectors.

The agreement enables immediate synergies for both Neogen and Chr. Hansen and brings forth interesting opportunities for the future too.

“The cooperation with Neogen immediately broadens our access to the swine and poultry integrator market both in the US but also further on to Mexico, Central America and the Caribbean countries. We expect strong growth in sales over the next three years”, explains Dr. Bill Braman, VP marketing and Sales Animal Health & Nutrition, Chr. Hansen NA.

To Neogen the cooperation with Chr. Hansen provides a perfect match to complete their existing line of products and solutions to their customers, primarily animal health distributors and large integrated swine and poultry operations.

Future opportunities

"We also see interesting opportunities long term like R&D cooperation to develop additional products for swine, poultry, and other sectors maybe within applications for the dairy and beef cattle segments. We could jointly develop food safety solutions using Chr. Hansen bacteria and taking advantage of Neogen's presence in the food safety segments. The long term potential is great,“ Dr.Braman continues. In 2007 the US animal health market alone was estimated to reach $6.8 billion (Animal Health Institute). The US accounts for 26.9% of the world production of chicken meat and reached more than15,869,000 tonnes (FAO).

The products

The initial products in the agreement include BioPlus 2B w and GalliPro Tect ws for the swine and poultry industries, respectively.

“BioPlus 2Bw and GalliProTect ws contain probiotic bacteria that improve the intestinal microbial balance of swine and broilers through water application. It helps increase live weight gain and improves feed conversion. The further convenience of water applications offers the opportunity to provide the products for specific periods when animals are under stress. And it’s all natural,” concludes Dr Braman.  Within animal health, Chr. Hansen also supplies Probios Precise - a direct fed microbial (DFM) for dairy cows designed to help maintain dry matter intake (DMI) during the transition and lactation period.