BRISBANE LAWYERS TAKE PATENTED ANIMAL PAINKILLER TO THE WORLD

BRISBANE law firm Bennet & Philip Lawyers has contracted a multi-million-dollar deal to help take a unique Aussie painkiller for animals to the global market.

Bennet & Philip's Michael Bigg and Lance Pollard contracted a deal between Australian company Animal Ethics and UK-based Dechra Pharmaceuticals to launch Animal Ethics' unique pain relief product Tri-Solfen worldwide.

As part of the agreement, Dechra has taken a 33 per cent share of Animal Ethics to obtain the rights to sell Tri-Solfen for use on all animal species overseas.

The deal has the potential of generating $350m per year in international sales.

Pollard says the subject of ethical pain relief for animals is a sensitive international issue, but the Australian company has developed a world leading product.

"People outside the farm industry may not realise it but many farming operations can cause pain to farm animals and the founders of Animal Ethics had an idea to improve animal welfare by reducing pain in animals during routine treatments such as castration, tail docking, debudding and dehorning," says Pollard.

"We are delighted to help take [Tri-Solfen] to a new international level."

Dr Meredith Sheil, a founder of Animal Ethics, developed Tri-Solfen in 2004 for treating lambs after the 'mulesing' process, which is a controversial surgical operation performed on sheep to reduce the flystrike disease.

The painkiller was approved for use on calves last year, and is now used on eight million farm animals a year.

Tri-Solfen now has 35 patents granted across many the world's major animal health markets.

Pollard says the development process is underway to register the product in global markets, with the initial focus being for pigs and cattle in America.

"Globally the market potential is conservatively estimated at around $300 million per year but with the increasing international focus on the ethical treatment of farm animals," says Pollard.

"This sum could be exceeded once multi-species approval is achieved in the big markets."

Brisbane Legal