ImmuCell Corporation (NASDAQ: ICCC), a rapidly growing animal health company that is developing, manufacturing and selling products that improve health and productivity in the dairy and beef industries, today announced that it has acquired certain business assets from DAY 1™ Technology, LLC of Minnesota.
The acquired rights and know-how are primarily related to formulating ImmuCell's bovine antibodies into a gel solution for oral delivery to newborn calves via a syringe (or "tube"). This product format offers customers an additional delivery option to the bolus (the standard delivery format of the bivalent First Defense® product since first USDA approval and product launch in 1991) and could allow more significant penetration into the beef market. The formulation was developed by DAY 1™ Technology for ImmuCell and has been sold as a feed product without disease claims since 2012.
Bringing the disease claims against E. coli and coronavirus from First Defense® to this gel formula is very important to the growth of the First Defense® franchise. The Company anticipates developing and offering several product formats with a variety of disease claims in the foreseeable future, leading with the new claim against bovine rotavirus, which could represent the first such USDA claim in a passive antibody product.
This purchase also includes certain other related private-label products that could generate around $300,000 in annual sales for ImmuCell. Assets purchased in this transaction included inventory, machinery, equipment and certain intellectual property intangibles. The total purchase price is expected to approximate $350,000 to $550,000 including estimated contingent payments due over the next three years.
Michael F. Brigham, President and CEO, commented, "It has been a pleasure to work with the people at DAY 1™ Technology over these first three formative years. As we grow, we believe it is essential to formally integrate this operation into our business."
The purchase does not include the ongoing DAY 1™ Technology consulting business. ImmuCell has extended job offers to four full-time and three part-time employees of DAY 1™ Technology and plans to continue current operations at a leased facility in Minnesota.
"We continue to execute on the two core components of our business strategy", continued Mr. Brigham. "First, we are expanding the market penetration of First Defense®, our best-in-class treatment for calf scours. The addition of a bovine rotavirus disease claim to our existing claims against E. coli and coronavirus infections could allow us to bring the first passive antibody product with this breadth of disease claims to market. Second, we are advancing the development of Mast Out®, our novel treatment for subclinical mastitis in lactating dairy cows. Our ground-breaking product innovation is unlike all other mastitis treatments on the market today that are all sold subject to a milk discard period. Our goal is to revolutionize the way mastitis is treated by making earlier treatment of subclinical infections economically feasible by not requiring a milk discard or meat withhold during, or for a period of time after, treatment. No other product presently on the market can offer this value proposition."
About ImmuCell
ImmuCell Corporation (NASDAQ: ICCC) is a rapidly growing animal health company whose purpose is to create scientifically-proven and practical products that improve health and productivity in the dairy and beef industries. ImmuCell markets products that provide immediate immunity to newborn dairy and beef cattle. The Company is developing product line extensions of its existing products and is in the late stages of developing a novel product that addresses mastitis, the most significant cause of economic loss to the dairy industry. These products help reduce the need to use traditional antibiotics in food producing animals. Press releases and other information about the Company are available at our website, (http://www.immucell.com).
1.27.2016
