APIAM big winner from Pig Services Centre’s closure: $3.3m vaccine sales windfall

Veterinary giant APIAM is set to snap up $3.3 million of work previously performed by the farmer-funded Pig Services Centre.

Vaccine matters: Former Victorian Farmers Federation Pig Group president says the Andrews Government has handed veterinary giant APIAM a virtual monopoly in pig vaccine production.

THE work of Victoria’s Pig Services Centre, which was on track to generate $3.3 million in vaccine sales this year, has been closed and its work handed to one of Australia’s largest veterinary practices, APIAM.

Pig producers have warned that Agriculture Minister Jac­lyn Symes has handed the $140 million veterinary giant APIAM a massive windfall and a virtual monopoly on autogenous pig vaccine production.

The Weekly Times has seen an 18-page government report into the farmer-funded centre, which shows Agriculture Victoria kept its staff levels at half the full complement of 10 and failed to replace its former manager, Youssef Abs El-Osta, who retired last August.

Online graphic for the Weekly Times

The failure to appoint a new manager and the latest suspension of its work comes at a critical time for the Pig Centre, which was about to lift its vaccine revenue from almost $1.3 million in 2018-19 to $3.3 million in 2019-20 from Australia’s biggest pork producers, including $707,460 from SunPork, $1.6 million from Rivalea and $700,000 from Don KR.

Victoria’s acting chief veterinary officer wrote to pig producers telling them “existing PSC customers can place new vaccine orders with ACE Laboratory Services”, which is owned by APIAM.

Former Victorian Farmers Federation pig group president John Bourke said APIAM would now have a monopoly and win all the pig centre’s business.

APIAM managing director and specialist pig veterinarian Chris Richards dismissed Mr Bourke’s concerns.

Mr Richards said there were several companies that made autogenous and permit vaccines that serviced the production animal markets.

Mr Bourke, who led the battle against previous attempts to close the facility, said Ms Symes was being poorly advised in deciding to “temporarily” close the centre and hand its $3 million of vaccine work to APIAM, which owns 24 vet clinics across Australia.

Ms Symes has repeatedly stated the Pig Services Centre in Epsom, a suburb of Bendigo, had been closed to protect staff from coronavirus infections.

But Mr Bourke asked why other essential Agriculture Victoria facilities at Attwood and elsewhere remained open.

“Our fear is once it’s closed it will never re-open,” he said.