Livestock Solutions

Advanced antimicrobial solutions for poultry and egg production, ensuring food safety and animal welfare

Agriculture

Securing Food Supply Chains

As antibiotics are phased out in farming, producers face a difficult challenge: keeping livestock and poultry healthy and productive under tighter rules on traditional antibiotic use. Chicken is the most popular source of animal protein in the Canadian diet, with over 1.4 billion kilograms of chicken and over 10 billion eggs produced annually, and farmers have long relied on antibiotics to maintain this vital food supply.

With medically important antibiotics now restricted to prescription-only use, the lack of effective alternatives creates economic and animal-health pressures, while antimicrobial resistance threatens human and animal health, food security, and trade. Amphoraxe Life Sciences is developing non-antibiotic treatments that target harmful bacteria while supporting animal health, helping to secure food supply chains and reduce the risk of antimicrobial resistance.

Livestock pen trial
Our Research

Peptide Potency — Avian Pathogens

Five antimicrobial peptides were tested in challenge and pen trials against two avian pathogens — avian pathogenic E. coli (APEC 317) and Salmonella Enteritidis (LS101).

APEC 317 (E. coli)

Gram −
Peptide
SW30l8v
KI23w67
WR29e11k
HL18j44
GL15b3t

Antibiotic Resistance Rates

~95% MDR 23

LS101 (S. Enteritidis)

Gram −
Peptide
SW30l8v
HL18j44
KI23w67
WR29e11k
GL15b3t

Antibiotic Resistance Rates

95% Ampicillin 4
73% Tetracycline 4
30% Ciprofloxacin 5
75% MDR 4

Bars represent relative potency (1/MIC) normalized to the most potent peptide per pathogen. MIC values are minimum inhibitory concentration (µg/mL) across all experiments conducted.

MDR = multidrug-resistant.

Sources: 2 Bhattarai RK et al. (2024). Vet World 17(2):480-499. PMID: 38595648 · 3 Johar A et al. (2021). Antibiotics 10(5):564. PMID: 34064966 · 4 Yu X et al. (2021). Poult Sci 100(2):1016-1023. PMID: 33518060 · 5 EFSA/ECDC (2025). EFSA J 23(3):e9237. DOI: 10.2903/j.efsa.2025.9237

Advancing Next-Generation Poultry Care

Supported by Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada (AAFC), Amphoraxe is advancing novel antimicrobial peptides (AMPs) as practical, antibiotic replacement tools for poultry health on Canadian farms. Our focus is on reducing disease-related losses while helping producers adapt to tighter controls on medically important antibiotics and growing concerns about antimicrobial resistance.

Through the Safe and Effective Antimicrobials for Poultry Farming (SEAPF) initiative and our partners, we are developing scalable manufacturing methods for lead AMPs, validating their performance in farm-relevant models, and preparing these Canadian-made solutions for deployment in real-world operations. This platform is designed to extend beyond poultry to additional livestock species and export markets, supporting more resilient food systems in Canada and abroad.

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Interested in co-developing antimicrobial peptides for agricultural applications?

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