SurBred™
Product Overview
SurBred™ is a novel blood test designed to identify open cows 10 to 20 days sooner than methods currently used in dairy cattle throughout the world. The test kit we intend to produce would permit pregnancy status to be determined sooner than the traditional methods, which, in turn, would permit a herd manager to repeat the artificial insemination process at an earlier date for cows tested to be open. Our test does not include any physical manipulation of the cow other than a simple blood sample. Traditional manipulation results in somewhat higher risk to the embryo. Designed to save producers time and money, it can significantly improve the overall reproduction efficiency of dairy herds. This immunoassay-based blood test is not subject to FDA approval regulations.
We entered into licensing agreements with the University of Idaho and the University of Wyoming in fall, 2001, to obtain the exclusive rights to the marker used in the open cow test technology. We have filed two provisional patent applications, as well as a trademark application for SurBred™, the planned name of the open cow test kit.
In 2003 we entered into a distribution agreement with Merial Limited for the worldwide sales and marketing rights to this test. Merial, a joint venture between Merck and Aventis, is one of the world's leading animal health companies. Based on findings of an expanded field trial during 2003, we concluded that improvements needed to be made to the test before marketing could begin. We have contracted with two recognized industry experts in this field to assist our internal efforts in development of the test. We are currently working on optimizing the test to provide an effective and accurate product. We also continue to characterize the target indicator marker more fully to understand how its temporal expression changes through early pregnancy. We believe we have confirmed that the target marker is highly accurate in determining pregnancy status. Since we were unable to launch the test to date, as previously anticipated in our agreement, Merial may want to renegotiate the agreement. Although technically the agreement has expired, both parties have been working together and conducting themselves as if the agreement were still in effect and are planning on Merial marketing the product once it is fully developed. While we can provide no assurance of success, development efforts are ongoing. Should Merial elect to terminate the agreement, they may request a refund of 50% ($100,000) of the development payment received to date. To date we have worked closely with Merial and they have been supportive of our efforts to resolve the development issues surrounding the pregnancy test.
