Wednesday, June 26, 2019

Prolacta's global growth takes it to Australia


Prolacta, the oldest commercial human milk product maker and seller in the world, is now operating out of Australia. They've rebranded their product line as "Humavant" for Europe, Great Britain, and now Asia. They've opened an office in Adelaide, although it is not clear if the office is a base to sell to other Asian countries or if they have been granted a license to sell in Australia. Their expansion into Europe is run out of an office in Belgium. In 2017 India's NeoLacta Lifesciences received permission to sell human milk in Australia but it's not clear if they are actually operating.

It's also not clear where all Prolacta's milk is coming from.

Does Prolacta source milk from the same country where it is selling, or is it sourcing milk in one country and shipping it to somewhere else? Without transparency and regulation, it is hard to tell. It's only been 2 years since the Cambodia government banned U.S. firm Ambrosia from purchasing milk in that country and shipping it to the U.S. for sale. It's also not clear where the milk is being processed - is Prolacta's California facility shipping milk all over the world now?

Certainly, Prolacta's legal challenges don't seem to have stopped its global growth plans. Earlier this year, U.S. competitor, Ni-Q, won a patent challenge against the firm, but Prolacta has been busy filing patents all around the world and holds them now in Australia, Austria, Belgium, Canada, China, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Hong Kong, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey, and the UK, as well as in the US.

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