The Company is in the late stages of developing Re-Tain™, a novel purified Nisin intramammary treatment that addresses subclinical mastitis in fully grown milking cows. Mastitis is the most significant cause of economic loss to the dairy industry totaling approximately $2 BILLION annually. Re-Tain™ will treat infections in milk producing cows without the use of traditional antibiotics, and reduces the amount of antibiotics in the milk supply.

The Social Imperative: Reduce Antibiotics in America’s Food Chain

Many fear that the possible overuse of antibiotics in livestock undermines the effectiveness of drugs to combat human illnesses and contributes to a rising number of life-threatening human infections from antibiotic-resistant bacteria, commonly known as “superbugs.” ImmuCell’s First Defense^® utilizes ImmuCell’s proprietary vaccine and milk protein purification technologies to protect newborn dairy and beef calves against bovine enteritis, or calf scours, which causes diarrhea and dehydration in newborn calves and often leads to serious sickness and even death. Re-Tain™, our mastitis product, treats mammary infections in lactating cows. Nisin, an antibacterial peptide, is not used in treating human infections, and is known to be effective against most Gram-positive and some Gram-negative bacteria. Both products treat calves or cows without the use of traditional human antibiotics, thereby reducing the amount of antibiotics in the human food chain.

The FDA is committed to addressing the public health risk that the overuse of antibiotics poses. Citing concerns about untreatable, life-threatening infections in humans, new FDA and European regulations are aimed at restricting the use of antibiotics (including cephalosporins) in food animals and at improving milk quality. Regulators have recently increased their monitoring of antibiotic residues in milk and meat. During the first quarter of 2012, the USDA reduced the allowable level of somatic cell counts (SCC) in milk from 750,000 (cells per milliliter) to 400,000 at the individual farm level (not a blended calculation of comingled milk) in order to qualify for an EU health certification for export.

ImmuCell’s products play an important role in addressing this critical human health issue.

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ImmuCell - California Mastitis Test (CMT) Kit for Mastitis - Brochure