Stirling Products’ North American subsidiary has signed an agreement with Canada’s national research council for a trial of its lead candidate R-salbutamol in pigs.

R-salbutamol is a beta agonist derived from the R isomer of salbutamol, a known metabolic modifier which diverts energy from fat production into increased muscle mass.

The trial will begin next month in 40 pigs at a commercial production facility in Canada. It will be compared with ractopamine, another beta agonist used to promote lean meat production in pigs.

R-salbutamol is also being trialled in Australia for obesity in companion animals and in the respiratory problem called heaves in horses. Salbutamol is a known treatment for asthma in humans.

Stirling, which in February appointed a new board and managing director, is also in a joint venture with Zodiac Capital, a boutique investment group. Zocap has rights to a range of phyto-pharmaceutical products developed in the Ukraine.

One product is a botanical immunomodulator called Dzherelo or Immunoxel, which is being used to treat tuberculosis. It was approved by the Ukraine Ministry of Health as a functional food in 2006, and is being tested in a Ukraine trial in terminally ill TB patients with HIV co-infection.