Qualified success in Imugene trial

Imugene (ASX:IMU) has claimed a qualified success after a trial to test the ability of its receptor mimic technology (RMT) to prevent post-weaning diarrhoea in piglets.

The incidence and severity of diarrhoea and weight differences in the piglets were recorded over the 14-day trial, conducted at the Victorian Department of Primary Industries in Bendigo. The trial found a low overall incidence and severity of post-weaning diarrhoea in the 45 piglets, which were infected with E. coli bacteria when compared to a control group.

However, due to the low incidence of diarrhoea overall -- less than 30 per cent of piglets were affected -- the difference was not statistically significant.

Unusually, researchers administered E. Coli to the piglets twice during the trial, in an attempt to increase the incidence of diarrhoea. The company has speculated that the low overall incidence of diarrhoea may have been due to the RMT treatment reducing the overall spread and reinfection of pigs. Previous trials using the exact same model and bacteria have resulted in 100 per cent incidence of severe diarrhoea.

Further trials are required to determine if this effect is repeatable. "To establish the positive effects from the RMT, in particular the effect on weight gains, we need further results from subsequent trials in which complicating factors such as any respiratory infections are absent," said Imugene's MD, Dr Warwick Lamb.

RMT uses non-pathogenic bacteria modified to express receptor mimics on their surface which bind to disease-causing toxins or viruses, preventing them from binding to the gut wall and being absorbed.

The next RMT piglet trial is scheduled for the fourth quarter of 2004.