Vietnam Grants Approval To Begin Large-Scale Testing Of Pioneering Shrimp Product
  
Aqua Bounty Technologies, Inc.  a biotechnology company focused on enhancing productivity in the aquaculture market, announced today that it has been granted approval to begin large-scale testing of its pioneering immunostimulant Shrimp IMS (“IMS”) in Vietnam, one of the world’s four largest shrimp producing countries.  IMS is a feed additive administered through the entire shrimp life cycle to protect it against a range of diseases.
 

This endorsement by Vietnam’s National Aquaculture and Fisheries Quality Assurance Veterinary Directorate (NAFIQAVED) builds upon the contract awarded to the Company earlier in the year to supply shrimp-disease diagnostic kits to Government laboratories throughout the country. 

NAFIQAVED is establishing comprehensive measures to assist farmers after Vietnam’s shrimp harvests have been considerably reduced by disease in recent years.
 

Additionally, the Company continues to make substantial progress in securing regulatory approval for Shrimp IMS in its other key target markets in Asia and Latin America.  Certificates of Exportability issued by the FDA, which confirm that the product is compliant with all US regulations and can be exported from the US, have been submitted to fourteen countries including China, Thailand and Indonesia, the three leading shrimp producing countries in the world.  

 
Aqua Bounty continues to consolidate its commercial position in the Asian and Latin American shrimp markets and expects to add several new distributors over the coming three months.  Currently, there are fifteen active trials with potential customers in Latin America, with Asian trials scheduled to begin shortly. Before the sales process can begin, trials of the product are required to demonstrate its effectiveness and to secure local regulatory approval. 

The commercial effectiveness of Shrimp IMS has been proven in Mexico and Ecuador, as well as in numerous lab and field trials.  Results, on average, have shown a 30% increase in the survival rates of IMS-treated shrimp compared to untreated shrimp and a return of investment of up to $2.5 for every dollar spent on the product by the shrimp farmers.  The Company is confident that regulatory approval will be granted in the majority of locations in the first half of 2007.

Elliot Entis, Chief Executive Officer of Aqua Bounty commented: “I am delighted with the commercial progress of our Shrimp IMS product and look forward to working with the NAFIQAVED on the roll-out of the product throughout Vietnam.  This is an important milestone for us in delivering against our strategy which we communicated on flotation. 
 

There continues to be strong demand for our products and a visible pipeline of development and opportunities in the Asian and Latin American shrimp markets that the Company continues to target.”