From Flores to the Pacific: vaccines for Chilean salmon are Argentine

Perhaps because his father José La Torre was one of the pioneers in biotechnology, Diego had a childhood in test tubes. José, perhaps, was one of the most prestigious newborn Conicet scientists at the command of the Nobel laureate, Bernardo Houssay.

But Diego tries to escape the laboratory as destiny. He studied management and worked at US EximBank. At one point He noted that multinationals have abandoned the treatment of some cattle diseases. He joined brothers Nicolás and Matías Grosman and they began working non -stop in the same land of their scientific father.

Tecnovax was born in 2003, the great milestone which must be built the world’s first vaccine against hydatid disease, the country’s major zoonosis. It is produced by a parasite that is transmitted by dogs and cattle through their feces. The vaccine was developed by genetic engineering.

They also make vaccines for the prevention of abortions, reproductive failure and respiratory diseases in cattle.

They came to China with its Providean brand. They argue that the Asian giant’s demand is growing to cater to a cattle stock of 108 million bovines, the third largest in the world.

For pets, they taught vaccines against distemper, hepatitis and leptospirosis, among others.

By the way, versatility seems to be a standard for this company that defines itself as a factory of biological products. and they put bow towards Chilean salmon. It is said that it is not easy to attract that market. But they passed all the tests.

“Fish convert 90% of what they eat into meat. They have cold blood that doesn’t lose energy. And in this way they surpass the rest of the animal kingdom in efficiency”, argues La Torre, 47 , when explaining interest in this production. In Chile there are 250 million solomons that they should be vaccinated individually using a procedure consisting of anesthetizing them first and then applying the dose with intense delicacy so as not to damage the organs or tissues.

Tecnovax makes the vaccine against infectious anemia and they sold approximately 50 million doses. They lead with 12% participation. They also vaccinate them to reduce the load of parasites.

They invoice US $ 25 million per year, export to more than 20 countries and plan to live in New Zealand to supply Asia. One key, they say, is reinvestment and allocation 5% of research and development revenue.

At the Flores plant in the heart of the City they have 80 people, including 20 scientists. But they are women. A group of banks (HSBC, Santander, Galicia and Nación) extended loans to them at the subsidized rate for the extension of 2,000 square meters to Buenos Aires Mercedes, which gave them land.

In most of the equipment made in Argentina and other imported from Italy and China, the construction It costs US $ 20 million.

It will open in December. This will yield 5 doses per second, in what they refer to as a massive leap in productivity.