MANILA -- When she was young, Pinky Tobiano dreamt of making the best animal medicines in the country.

Today, her company KPP Powers Commodities--an importer and distributor of food additives and nutritionals--is filing the paperwork for an African swine fever (ASF) vaccine in the Philippines.

"ASF is the biggest problem now of the country for livestock," Tobiano said. "It compromises almost P90 billion losses. For the past 2 years, there’s no swine anymore -- the backyard farmers who’d save up, OFWs who’d send money, and there’s no pigs," she said.

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Tobiano said her company was seeking regulators' approval for the ASF vaccine, which is already being used in Vietnam.

"In the Philippines, we have finished our trial, and we have worked with the Bureau of Animal Industry. The trial was very good...the success rate is around 92 percent," she said.

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The executive said she hoped the FDA would approve the vaccine within the quarter. 

"This vaccine, we have tried it for almost 17 months," she said. 

"At least with a 92 percent probability, it’s very good for entrepreneurs, for SMEs, for small farms. The vaccine also gives credibility to lenders like the banks, like agri-loans now...the vaccine will lower the risk factor of lending," she said.

Tobiano's drive to make the best animal medicine has led her to become a chemist. Today, she is also the chief executive officer of Progressive Laboratories, a manufacturer of veterinary medicine and maintenance supplements.

She said her company exports its products.

"I make for the biggest brands in the country, and I’m very happy every time I see my brand on TV, shelves abroad, it makes me very proud that a Filipino can and will shine globally."

"Normally chemists, globally, internationally, are men," she said, citing world-renowned chemists like Antoine Lavoisier.

"So now, a woman chemist is on the shelf."

--ANC, 1 March 2024