Synthase Biotech targets 2019 launch for 'bull semen extender', sees global demand

Monday 7th December 2015

Synthase Biotech, set up this year to commercialise a plant-based enzyme that controls lipid oxidation, will use the technology to launch a product that extends the life of bull semen used in artificial insemination (AI).

The Auckland based company owned by managing director Mark Backhaus is working with Livestock Improvement Corp on the use of its enzyme, Allene Oxide Synthase (AOS), that it says has been shown to extend the life of fresh and frozen sperm. It is targeting a launch in the spring of 2019, initially offering the product to New Zealand farmers prior to a global launch.

"The potential for our product in the dairy sector alone is huge, but we will be able to use AOS for AI in the pig and poultry sectors relatively quickly too," said Steve Hodgkinson, the company's chief scientific officer. Ultimately, AOS would have applications in higher-value foods and human health, he said.

Synthase is the recipient of a three-year, $800,000 grant from Callaghan Innovation and has its own $2.2 million research programme. Its proprietary solution neutralises lipid peroxides, the toxic products of lipid oxidation, the company said. Lipid oxidation causes a range of problems including rancidity in dairy products, the 'off' smell of fish and the short life of fresh semen used in AI, Hodgkinson said.

Backhaus said the company plans to reinvest revenue into developing second-generation applications that could target blood transfusion products, organ transplant and very high value foods. Funding for research and development in 2016 will come from shareholders and other capital raising, he said. The company has licensed "an extensive portfolio" of intellectual property from earlier research undertaken by Pacific Brands, the Backhaus-owned company that owns Synthase.

"We will establish a new industry for New Zealand, new high-tech R&D intensive specialist jobs and generate substantive new export revenues for New Zealand from the high-tech manufacturing opportunity and enzyme-based products that will result from it," he said.

BusinessDesk.co.nz

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