Local firm develops breeding inducer hormone for fish

Numerous award given by prestigious prize-giving bodies in the world inspire tryco Pharmaceutical Corp., the only local manufacturer of animal vaccines and soon a human pharmaccutical vaccine producer as well.

Tryco and its subsidiary, Riverdale Laboratories Inc. received recently at the Intercontinental HongKong the 10th Golden Asia Award for Excellence-New Millenium Award for Asian companies that have achieved excellence in products and services.

The award was conferred by Trade Leaders’ Club Editorial Office, based in Madrid. Part of the awards events is the work meeting meant to promote business contacts among different enterprises attending the ceremony.

For Tryco Pharma and its subsidiary, Riverdale Laboratories Inc. — both owned by self-made pharmaceutical tycoon Wilfredo Rivera Sr. — product innovation and market expansion never ends.

Beginning December, these companies are jointly launching a breeding inducer hormone for fish, which Rivera recently acquired from Hemmo Pharma from India.

The hormone is now being fermented by Tryco in its fermentation tanks for commercial production at the 42-hectare Tryco compound and a P42-million scientific laboratory facilities and building at San Rafael, Bulacan. The hormones will be packed in 10 cc vials to to be sold at huge promotional discounts (of 50 percent discount as introductory offering) to fish ponds operators in the country next month.

Rivera told The STAR that one cc of this hormone injected at the tail of catfish, St. Peter’s fish or carp will, after four days, produce a million fry, which when applied in commercial fish farms will produce miraculous results in their production.

"This will solve our problem in food supply —— ensure affordable fish protein for majority of our poor population —— and at the same time expand business opportunities not just for the pond operators but other allied industries as well, including processors," Rivera said.

In India, the synthetic hormone is branded Ovatide that is highly active and ready-to-use injectable solution containing synthetic peptide analogous to gonadotropin releasing hormone with a dopa mine antagonist. Fish injectable with Ovatide found to produce increased number of eggs through complete spawning with high fertilization and hatching percentage.

It can be administered in a single dose without any adverse effect on brood fish after injection. Male and female brood fish can be injected simultaneously.

The technology was offered to Rivera by Mahdu Utamsingh, director of Hemmo Pharma last Oct. 24, 2002 when Rivera was in India for some other business concern——to work out the shipment of a fertilizer plant, one of the many plants now lying idle in India due to its bad economy, Rivera said.

Utamsingh said a growing number of fish farmers and hatchery operators in India have been using Ovatile because of its high efficiency and cost effectiveness. "Several users have written to us directly about the excellent performance of ovatide while others have pushed the results of their trials in scientific journals and presented papers at international and national conferences/seminars concerned with fisheries science and its development," he added.

Rivera said the hormone will be given free for the first (10 pieces of brood fish) but subsequent hormones will be sold at affordable prices to pond operators.

Hermmo Pharma will be supplying the hormone in big containers but this will be further fermented for commercial production by Tryco.

Rivera said a 10 cc bottle will cost about P282 but a 50 cc will be cheaper than buying five units of 10 cc bottles or P1,410 in all. "Buying bigger dosages will be cheaper by 15 to 20 pecent from Tryco," Rivera assures fishpond operators.

Tryco, he stressed, will be the first to market and commercially produce this breeding inducing hormone in the Philippines. "We are going into this trailblazing because we would like to help our country achieved self sufficiency in fish protein at the same time make the fishpond species more affordable to the poorest sector of the country. Rivera – who himself came from humble beginning as taxi driver and elevator operator until he got a Fullbright scholarship in US——said.

Rivera was in India two weeks ago and was shown around the country going north to New Delhi from Bombay and toured vast tracts of fishponds in the second most heavily populated country where food is not a problem since it uses hydrid rice and for fish protein carp and other species.

In March 2000, Rivera received the "New Millenium Award for Technology and Quality" given by Geneva-based European Editorial Office and Trade Leaders’ Club for its Rivedale Laboratories’ antibacterial and anti viral vaccines which have passed the most stringent quality control tests of two leading laboratories in the United Kingdom and France.