Sirius Pet Biologics, founded by husband-and-wife duo Antony Leo and Lusyana Tirtawidjaja in 2021, is a pet health science firm that targets both the retail market and veterinary clinics.

With the help of local research scientist Dr. Chia Tet-Fatt, the company has so far launched 11 product SKUs under the brand Furment.

The short form of Furkids and ferMentation, Furment consists of five SKUs for the retail sector and the remaining six SKUs targeted at vets and online dispensary.

These products were formulated using Dr. Chia’s Miiiome Technology​ – a technique for developing postbiotics for human, pet, and agricultural use.

Speaking to NutraIngredients-Asia,​ Leo, also the managing director, said that there was growing awareness among vets in the use of postbiotics, although there was still room for more education.

“The vets themselves have acknowledged that microbiome is a big thing, and the trend is getting bigger. ​

“Two years ago, if you speak to any vets about postbiotics, they will be like, what is that, and do you mean pre or probiotics? It's that kind of response. ​

“Now, with more scientific journals publishing findings on postbiotics, they would have come across the term postbiotics, but they might not understand the context of postbiotics or understand it in-depth, so we still have to do our job to distinguish the difference between pro and postbiotics,” ​he said.

One key difference, he pointed out, was that postbiotics, being ‘dead’ bacteria, do not need to be refrigerated, while most probiotics would require refrigeration.

This also means that postbiotics could have a longer shelf-life, which is 18 months for the firm’s products, said Leo.

He added that postbiotics could be administered with antibiotics, again, due to its advantage as ‘dead’ bacteria, which meant it would not be wiped out by antibiotics.

One such example is its capsule product MegaCor.

Aside from suitability for use with antibiotics, it is said to rejuvenate, strengthen the gut microbiome, and speed up post-surgery recovery.

The formulation is made up of a proprietary blend of fermented Lactobacillus postbiotics, including postbi...