Humavant® 100% human milk-based fortifiers helping premature infants in Australia grow and develop

ADELAIDE, Australia, Oct. 21, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- Prolacta Bioscience®, the world's leading hospital provider of 100 per cent human milk-based nutritional products, announced today that a growing number of neonatal intensive care units (NICUs) across New South Wales, Queensland, and South Australia now have access to Humavant® nutritional products as an alternative to cow milk-based nutritional fortifiers for babies born prematurely.

Humavant is the first and only human milk-based fortifier available to hospitals in certain regions of Australia, with more than 50 Australian premature infants now joining the 100,000+ infants worldwide1 who have been fed nutrition free from cow milk and made from 100 per cent donor breast milk.

Human milk nutrition is vital for the health and development of babies born prematurely. Given the estimated 20 per cent – 40 per cent increase in caloric needs compared to full-term infants,2 a nutritional fortifier is often added to mum's milk or donor breast milk to provide the nutritional support that is vital to premature infants' survival, growth, and development. Additionally, in a recent study the use of a human milk diet with human milk-based fortifiers reduced mortality by 50 per cent compared to a diet with cow milk-based fortifiers.3

"Our human milk-based nutritional products are critically important for extremely premature infants born weighing 1250 grams or less, and they decrease the risk of health complications in this vulnerable infant population," said Scott Elster, CEO of Prolacta.

Compared to cow milk-based products, an Exclusive Human Milk Diet (EHMD) with Prolacta's 100 per cent human milk-based nutritional fortifiers has been clinically demonstrated in numerous U.S. studies to improve long-term health outcomes,4,5 shorten stays in the NICU,6 and reduce hospital costs.6,7

Worldwide, approximately 152 million babies have been born preterm in the last decade, with nearly 1 million dying each year.8 In Australia alone, more than 26,000 babies are born prematurely each year, with nearly 3,000 of those born before 32 weeks gestation.9

Additional information about Humavant can be found at prolacta.com/apac/en.