Salmon lice drug secures new funding

Sarsia and Coast are fully financing the first part of the project by injecting NOK 12 million into the company. Through their investment, they want to ensure that the drug enters the market as quickly as possible.

Costs associated with lice infestations and lice treatments for the seafood industry amount to around NOK 18 billion a year, according to Norwegian research body Nofima. Meanwhile, over the past 10 years, the use of drugs against salmon lice has fallen from 95% of all treatments to well below 10%, with this reduction mainly due to environmental considerations and problems with resistance.

“The aquaculture industry is facing an urgent need for new methods that can reduce the harmful effects of salmon lice in a sustainable way. The transition to non-drug methods has not been unproblematic for the fish, which emphasises the need for new and more gentle solutions,” Vestland Pharma CEO Jan Rune Nordhagen said.

According to Vestland Pharma, its solution represents the first time a compound has been developed that has a significant effect against salmon lice and at the same time is completely natural and environmentally friendly.

The drug can be safely released into nature without harming other animal species, with no need for mechanical or thermal treatment, it said.

“Vestland Pharma’s drug has shown very promising results in initial tests. Sarsia has expertise in fish diseases, microbiology and drug development, and has experience in financing the development and approval of drugs as well as with the development and scaling of start-up companies. We are proud to contribute to the development of a drug that is both effective against salmon lice and safeguards fish welfare and the marine environment,” Sarsia’s Henrik Solberg-Johansen said.

“Coast Seafood works closely with fish farmers all over Norway. Salmon lice affect not only fish farmers, but the entire value chain. We know how critical the situation has become and will through the investment in Vestland Pharma contribute to finding good, environmentally friendly and efficient solutions,” Coast Seafood CEO Sverre Søraa said.

Vestland Pharma has also received funding from Innovation Norway’s Environmental Technology Scheme of NOK 10.6 million to conduct studies on fish welfare, efficiency and ecotoxicology, which are needed to approve the new drug.