HomeMy WebLinkAboutTimes-Advocate, 1986-07-16, Page 2Pape 2 Times -Advocate, July 16, 1986
Ow
the thresliold of new treatment of urinal, human diseases
Veterinarian Dr. Stan Alkemade is
certain he stands on the threshold of
a revolutionary new era in the treat-
ment of animal and human disease
that will see antibiotics replaced by
immune stimulant compounds.
He resigned his jobas lecturer in
animal science at CentraliaCollegeof
Agricultural Technology in May to ac-
cept the challenging position of direc-
tor of technical services for
Vetrepharm, Inc., currently a world
leader in immune, stimulant
technology, and the first to have on
the market a licenced treatment for
viral diseases in animals based on
stimulation of the immune system.
The fledgling company has grown
remarkably since opening its head of-
fice in London six years ago.
Vetrepharm was set up initially by a
small gruop of veterinarians to supply
Ontario vets with drugs and other
pharmaceuticals not always easily
obtainable from the large multina-
tionals. The charter shareholders,
Alkemade included, felt a small com-
pany could be more responsive to the
market, and keep in closer touch with
practitioners in the field.
The shareholders now number 36.
All are veterinarians except company
president Graham McRae, former
sales representative with the giant
Pfizer company, and most have prac-
tices in southwestern Ontario.
Vetrepharm branched out with its
own treatments for viral diseases
after purchasing Ragland Research
Inc. in Athens Georgia and acquiring
the services and research data of Dr.
William Ragland, a pioneer in the
field of immune stimulant technology.
The partnership continued Ragland's
experiments with mycobacterial cell
wall fractions spun into oil droplets.
The perfecting of Regressin, the
first commercial preparation of a
mycorbacterial cell wall im-
munostimulant approved as an aid in
the treatment of tumours, led to a
serendipitious discovery. Not only did
tumours in horses respond to the
treatment, but upper respiratory
virus infections cleared up too.
Further experimentation showed
that straight Regressin caused too
many adverse side effects when
treating viral infections, but
modifications resulted in a biologial
compound which stimulated the im-
mune system to produce a massive
increase of antibodies.
Alkemade had been monitoring all
the research. He recalls the excite-
ment. "We have a fantastic adjuvant.
Let's see if it will work when added
to vaccines!"
Alkemade explains that the conven-
tional way to develop disease
resistance is by inoculating with a
killed or a modified live virus vac-
cine. A major problem is to get
enough antigen into an animal to build
up a large antigen mass. The safest
way is with killed organisms. Using
weakened live organisms is more ef-
fective, but presents difficulties in
storing and handling.
Work to date has shown the
Vetrepharm vaccines give as high a
protection rate as modified live vac-
cines, and one dose activates the im-
mune system. The vaccines do not re-
quire refrigeration or mixing. They
leave no residue in an ,animal's
system, eliminating one of. the con-
cerns when antibiotics are ad-
ministered to animals being raised
for human consumption.
The company now offers a full
range of compounds to treat viral
diseases in all domestic species, even
one specifically designed for fish.
Vetrepharm also owns a 196 -acre
farm at Putnam where vaccine pro-
duction, initial testing, and animal
research are carried out, and a
research lab in Alberta. Large-scale
research is done in Alberta and
Georgia.
Acquisition of the im-
munostimulant compound patents
and licences has accelerated a push -
into the international market.
SNACK TIME — Joyce Kirk (left) and Annie Zielman pass out cold drinks and cookies during a break
with the kindergarten class at Vacation Bible School in Zurich.
More than 100 participate
Bus four of Ausable watershed
More than 100 persons participated
in a Saturday bus tour sponsored by
the Ausable-Bayfield Conservation
Autho y.
The}t,�xd' 33 interesting areas in
the no rn portion of the Authority's
watershed and included a noon hour
stop at the Clinton conservation area.
Here a plaque was unveiled and a
commemorative tree planting
ceremony held. This was the first
event to mark the 40th anniversary of
the Authority. A major celebration is
being held July 30 at the headquarters
at Morrison Dam. The Ausable
Authority was the first to be establish-
ed in the province of Ontario in 1946.
Since that time 37 others have been
formed. The Bayfield watershed was
added in 1972.
In his invocation Rev. Major
George Youmetoff in referring to the
major tree planting program at Clin-
ton said, "Man is finally looking after
what he has been given."
. Andy Houser, manager of the
Wingham District of Natural
Resources said he continues to be im-
pressed by the good work of the
authority in land and water manage-
ment. He added, "Southern Ontario
still provides 20 percent of Ontario
wood and 70 percent of fish and
wildlife related aspects can be found
here."
Huron's Ag Rep Don Pullen said,
"The park in Clinton is a credit to the
authority. Trees have come a long
way and with the new plantings we
will eventually have a fine woodlot.
Others speaking were Tuckersmith
township reeve Bob Bell, Clinton
reeve Bea Cooke and authority chair-
man Gordon Johnson and water
management chairman Bill Thirlwall
of Lobo township. -
During the bus tour, stops were
made at conservation tillage sites at
the farms of Bert Visscher, Gary
Eilers, Jack McGregor and Russ
Flowers.
Visscher features no -till soybeans
and minimum till soybeans into corn
residue, Eilers has no -till corn into
corn residue and a comparison of
planters with dry fertilizers versus li-
quid acid fertilizers, Jack McGregor
has ridge planted corn and soybeans
planted with co-operator's planter
and ridge planted corn mainly
planted into fall -formed ridges and
Russ Flowers has pasture renovation
with the Huron Soil and Water Con-
servation District drill and legumes
seeded without tillage into grass to in-
crease protein.
Farmstead windbreaks were view-
ed at the farms of Bill Munn, John
Scott, the Van Loon farms, Harry
Arts and Cor Vanden Hoven. The
largest and most significant wetland
in the Ausable River watershed is
Hay Swamp where the Authority
owns 2,325 acres.
The authority owns 1,132 acres of
agreement fotest iu Stephen
township, mostly in the west end it
was purchased from 1952 to 1963.
The Stephen wildlife area is a 100
acre naturally forested and
reforested area acquired in 1963. It in-
cludes a 17 acre Canadian Forestry
Service plantation that is 13 years old.
A variety of trees have been planted.
This avoids monocultures and
enhances the sites' suitability for
wildlife.
At the Port Blake Conservation
Area, 16.9 acres of lakeshore proper-
ty has been leased from the Ministry
of the Environment since 1973. Picnic
and playground facilities and access
to the 958 fookt beach have been pro-
vided by the ABCA.
The Crediton Conservation Area is
4.5 acres of parkland including river
flats and floodplain land of the
Ausable River. The township of
Stephen handles maintenance.
TALK TO GERMANY Reg Finkbeiner, Roy Finkbeiner, Drew Robertson and Steve Pertschy talk to
Baiersbronn in Germany for a short wove radio program. T•A photo
Crediton goes world-wide
The_ police village of Crediton was
on the airwaves a few weeks ago -as
part of a tourism campaign sponsored
by the German city of Baiersbronn.
With' more than 1,000 people
gathered in a Baiersbronn
auditorium, Deutsch Wylie, the Ger-
man Radio Network broadcast short-
wave messages from descendantsof
native folks of the area who had im-
migrated to other countries.
In addition to a telephone hookup to
Crediton, calls were made to
Paraguay and Venezuela where other
Baiersbronn residents moved to.
1
Sending greetings across to Ger-
many from Crediton were Reg and
Roy Finkbeiner and Steve Pertschy.
Also present was councillor Drew
Robertson representing the tdtvnship
of Stephen
Roy Finkbeiner at the age of 89 is
the oldest living member of the family
which came to Canada in 1848. Other
families to follow in later years were
Braun's now known as Brown, Eilber,
Wein, F'aist and Fahner.
Pertschy who comes' from the
Black Forest province assisted Reg.
Finkbeiner in making the ar-
•
rangements. Nick and Marlene
Jeromkin of Khiva had also been
contacted.
Pertschy has since received a call
from his sister Maria Morsch in the
Heidelberg area of Germany saying
she had heard the braodcast.
The German callers asked if any
German foods were still popular with
those who have their roots in the
Baiersbronn area. They were told
sauerkraut, pretzels and zue Ile bread
were among the foods still ranking
high on the list.
•
Vetrepharm's export sales were
$4,500,000 in 1985, and are expected to
double this year. Nicaragua bought a
large supply of vaccine last year, and
McRae has just returned from a
swing through the East with sizeable
orders from Malaysia and Thailand.
One prospective customer with
unlimited potential is China, a coun-
try Alkemade predicts will be a ma-
jor economic power in another 15 or
20 years.
This paper reported previously on
Alkemade's 12 -day visit to China last
November promoting a front-line
transportable veterinary diagnostic
laboratory set up for studying various
microbiological disciplines which was
introduced at the Agri -China '85 Ex-
position in Beijing (formerly Peking).
Alkemade had been the veterinary
resource advisor and microbiology
consultant, supplying drawings and
designing equipment and techniques,
from the time Vetrepharm began
building the lab a year ago. He was
selected to accompany the showcase
exhibit to the Chinese Exposition as
one of 65 Canadian exhibitors of
everything from seed and fertilizer to
wine.
During the November visit,
Alkemade was invited to return this
May to lecture on disease prevention
and immunology. He ended his tenure
at CCAT on May 13, and headed for
China the next day.
The Canadian delegation this time
included the Vetrepharm president,
Vetrepharm employee (and native
Chinese) Li Sui Hi M.D., as well as a
representative from the Ontario
department of industry, trade and
commerce, plus Dr. Don Gerson from
the Alberta research council, (who was
also putting on a seminar), and Jim
Long, breeder of the Candian bacon -
maker pigs at Woodlynne Farms,
Strathroy. (Long made the.first sale
to China of grandparent stock of the
hybrid pigs before returning to
Canada.)
Alkemade spent the first two days
of this visit in Beijing holding
seminars on disease prevention in
swine and poultry, China's main
sourcesof protein, for 200 members
of the deparmtent of agriculture from
across the country.
The Vetrepharm delegation took a
19 -hour train ride from Beijing
through hundreds of thousands of
acres of winter wheat (all planted,
cultivated and harvested by hand) to
Nanjing. Here they spent another two
days in a plant employing 900 people
to produce 655,000,000 doses a year of
modified live vaccines. Vetrepharm
has been asked to submit a prop isal
on updating the plant.
Alkemade is already working in
this project, due to be presented to the
Chinese in July. He will provide three
options: completely modernize with
computer technology so 50 people can
replace the 900; the same "whistles
and bells" high tech to produce im-
mune stimulant vaccines; or retain
more jobs in either option by letting
humans rather,than computers do the
monitoring, as China's greatest
resource is cheap labour.
France is also being asked to bid,
but will present only one proposal on
modernizing the factory to produce
the same vaccines as before.
Alkemade gives Vetrepharm's bid
an 80 -percent chance of acceptance.
Besides what the Canadian firm can
offer in science and technology,
Alkemade notes the favourable
climate for Canadians first fostered
by the still revered Dr. Norman
Bethune, and casually adds that the
Australian background of both
himself and McRae helps too, con-
sidering Australia was among the
first to recognize Red China and open
an embassy there.
Vetrepharm will continue to
receive guidance and support from
both federal and provincial
agricultural, trade and development
agencies negotiations pertaining to
the hoped-for trade agreement.
If Vetrepharm gets the contract; a
massive market will open for Canada.
The Nanjing plant would require
$50,000,000 in physical equipment
alone, and the Chinese have three
similar plants they also want to
modernize. Canadian technologists
would be travelling to China, and
Chinese officials would be coming to
Canada for training.
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In addition to the economic poten-
tial of the immune stimulant com-
pounds, Alkemade is equally enthus-
ed about their far-reaching implica-
tions for human and animal health.
As well as someday making an-
tibiotics obsolete, Alkemade believes
immune stimulant research will
ultimately lead to a breakthrough in
treatment of the two most stubborn
roadblocks in medicine - cancer and
the common cold.
DR. STAN ALKEMADE
Interimy a ments
p
for 1985 wheat
Ontario white winter wheat pro-
ducers will soon receive an interim
payment for wheat sold to their
marketing board from July, 1985, to
the end of May, 1986.
Chairman of The Ontario Wheat
Producers' Marketing Board, Edgar
Walcarius of RR 6, Aylmer, announc-
ed plans to make the payment during
the week of June 23.
He said the payment will amount to
$5.00 per tonne, or about 14 cents per
bushel, cn over 900,000 tonne sold by
producers during the period specified.
The payment will be in addition to the
initial payment producers received
upon delivery of their wheat, of
$120.00 per tonne, or $3.26 per bushel.
The board chairman said nearly all
of the 1985 record crop of white winter
wheat has been sold by the marketing
board, and a final payment, not
known at this time, will be made as
usual in mid September.
To date, board sales to export
markets total over 537,000 tonne,
while sales for domestic human con-
sumption exceed 255,000 tonne, with
seed and feed sales at about 60,000
tonne.
It was pointed out that producers
delivering wheat during the month of
June will receive interim payments
as the deliveries are processed by the
marketing board.
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