Australian Health Industry News and Services Directory

After a New Zealand’s Fonterra spokesperson stated that none of the batch in question was exported out of China, it appears that there are very real fears that quite large tonnages of the contaminated milk powder have been exported to other countries from their China subsidiary.

Possibly in an effort to reduce the impact, the Fonterra website shows an article that states “All other ANMUM and ANLENE products in the market have been produced using only 100% fully imported milk from New Zealand and are free from any possibility of contamination with melamine from locally sourced milk, and adhere to the strictest New Zealand and international standards”.

However it has now been reported in the China Post that ” One thousand 25-kg bags, or 25 tons, of the milk powder contaminated with melamine was imported into Taiwan in late June by New Tai Milk Products, a branch of the New Zealand-based dairy ingredients company Fonterra.

 The Taiwan Department of Health Bureau of Food Safety, believe that most of the contaminated milk powder that has been sold, went to food processing factories, so could be containating a wide range of food products.

 In moves to get to the bottom of the problem the Chinese government has now said that tests on products from all 109 baby milk companies in China showed varying traces of melamine from 22 companies, and that milk collectors, who gather milk from dairy farmers, deliberately added melamine to make it appear the milk had more protein.

A Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson has also stated that multiple other countries including Yemen, Bangladesh, Burma, Gabon and Burundi have imported milk powder made in China firms which has since been found to be contaminated.

The EU has moved to ban imports of dairy-based food products from China, including sweets biscuits and chocolate, aimed at children or infants amid  the escalating global health scare.

In China over 6,000 babies are ill, three have died to date and around 150 have serious kidney failure after drinking milk powder which had been contaminated with melamine, a toxic substance used in plastics manufacture. 

Fonterra have been critised for being slow to effect a recall of products following large scale sickness attributed to their Anmum brand contaminated milk product in China.

The contaminated product has been supplied from their 43% owned San Lu subsidiary who market the NZ owned Anmum brand under license from the NZ parent company Fonterra Co-operative Group.

In a statement of “what we Stand For”, Fonterra’s website boldly states”. “Dairy is our life’s work. It’s our passion and it’s what we do best.” “We have always marvelled at the simple nutrition of dairy. In an age when you need a chemistry degree to understand food labels, milk is pure milk, providing the building blocks for a healthy life.”
Since New Zealands dairy farmers’ Fonterra Co-operative Group was formed in 2001, they have become the world’s largest dairy exporter with over 11,000 dairyfarmer shareholders. Fonterra exports 95% of their New Zealand-made dairy products to more than 140 countries.

Roche have filed licence applications for treatment of rheumatoid arthritis in the USA and the European Union with their innovative arthritis treatment drug, Actemra (tocilizumab).

The product is already available in Japan for patients with a rare auto-immume condition known as Castleman’s disease and following sucessfull clinical trials has now been approved for treatment there of rheumatoid arthritis and also for juvenile idiopathic arthritis and systemic-onset juvenile idiopathic arthritis which affect children.

Actemra is the first of a new class of drug with a novel mechanism of action that brings new hope to rheumatoid arthritis sufferers. The drug works by suppressing the activity of IL-6, an important trigger of the inflammatory process and thereby reducing inflammation of the affected joints and relieves the systemic effects of rheumatoid arthritis.

Rheumatoid arthritis is a progressive autoimmune disease. The inflammation causes swelling of the joints and reduced functionalityas well as stiffness and swelling and significan pain and causes inflammation of the membrane lining in the joints. The condition eventually leads to irreversible disability from joint degradation. Other symptoms of rheumatoid arthritis include anaemia, osteoporosis, shortened life expectancy and also general fatigue. around 50% of effected patients can no longer work or function properly after 10 years.

Juvenile idiopathic arthritis is a severe disease with unknown cause associated with symptoms in joints occurring in young children. Patients have many similarities to rheumatoid arthritis accompanied by fever.

For further information about the Actemra product contact Roche Group

The National Centre for Immunisation Research and Surveillance at Westmead in Sydney is seeking 7000 volunteers for the biggest ever influenza clinical trials ever conducted in this country. Healthy individual only are required. Participants will be given either the vaccine or a fake placebo and asked to report all flu-like symptoms during the trial period.

The Centre is trying to make sure flu vaccines are still effective as the virus regularly mutates. Up to 15,000 people are hospitalised each year and about 1500 annual deaths are caused by a virus costing millions of dollars each year to the Australian economy.

If you are between 18 and 60 years of age, in good health and have had no flu vaccines in the past 6 months, and wish to assist then please contact the organisers on 1800 332 101.

Young & Single? Private Health Insurers have you targeted

In a market of more than 300,000 young single Australians with private health insurance coverage (27.5% of single Australians aged 25 to 34 for the 12 months to November 2007), Medibank Private continues to be the dominant player nationally, leading at 27.2%. Its largest competitor, MBF, trails at 17.6%, according to the latest Roy Morgan Single Source data.

Chart 1: Young Singles Private Health Insurance Brand Share

Period:     Rolling 12 months;

Base:        Australians aged 25-34, Not Married/Partnered with Private Health Insurance

Young Australians, and in particular, singles aged between 25 and 34 represent a key market opportunity for acquiring new customers, with over a million Australians belonging to this demographic with 70% not covered by private health insurance (November 2007, Roy Morgan Research). The young singles market is associated with lower likelihood of incurring hospitalisation expenses and private health insurers offer tailored health covers with premiums priced for these singles to entice them to join. In addition, those aged 25 and older are generally no longer entitled to be included under family health cover taken out by their parents or guardians, providing another opportunity to acquire new business.

Norman Morris, Global Finance Industry Director at Roy Morgan Research, says:

“Acquiring and retaining new customers, in particular younger customers offers a valuable offset against the higher health care expenditure incurred by ageing members. Other private health insurers such as BUPA Australia and Australian Unity have also developed their business towards the older age group of their customer base by offering services in the retirement living and aged care business.”

Chart 2: Young Singles Private Health Insurance Coverage

Period:     Rolling 12 months;

Base:        Australians aged 25-34, Not Married/Partnered with Private Health Insurance

Income-earning power continues to grow in this demographic group, but private health insurance coverage take-up has not kept pace. Approximately one out of every two single Australians aged 25-34 and earning $50,000 or more per annum are not covered. (November 2007, Roy Morgan Research).

Private health insurer NIB, which has recently de-mutualised, is targeting to grow its market share in the young Australians demographic, as competition continues to heat up in the private health insurance marketplace. Competitors such as MBF, who are likely to merge with BUPA Australia, would lead the way for market consolidation and create a significant national-level competitor against Medibank.   

But NIB faces a stiff challenge in gaining market share, with significantly larger players in all states holding a majority of customers across all age groups. At the total market level (age 14+), the competition is fiercest at the state-level with Medibank up against MBF in New South Wales and Queensland. In South Australia, Mutual Community has a significant lead over Medibank, whilst in Victoria, Medibank leads.

Table 1: Top 6 Private Health Insurers (Coverage)

* BUPA operates as Mutual Community in South Australia and the Northern Territory and HBA in all other states

Period:     12 months to November 2007;

Base:        Australians aged 14+ with Private Health Insurance; n= 20,481

For comments or further detail, please contact:

Norman Morris — Roy Morgan Research Global Finance Industry Director