Animal Health News & Notes for February 15, 2002

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Brakke Consulting’s
Animal Health News & Notes for February 15, 2002
Copyright © Brakke Consulting, Inc.

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BRAKKE CONSULTING ANNOUNCES ADDITION OF A NEW CONSULTANT

Brakke Consulting announced that Gilles Guillemette, DVM, has joined the firm as a Senior Consultant.  Dr. Guillemette is a veterinarian who left practice in France in 1991.  He progressed through several sales and marketing positions at Hill’s Pet Food and had senior responsibility for marketing to veterinarians in both Europe and the US.  Gilles has been the President of an advertising agency and his own consulting group before joining Brakke Consulting. Special areas of expertise include strategic planning, marketing, market research, and international business.  Gilles will be operating out of Kansas City office working closely with Richard Wilson. Gilles can be reached at 816-
 
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Company News Releases

>  IGI, Inc. announced that it has entered into a definitive asset purchase agreement for the sale of substantially all of the assets of its companion pet products division to Vetoquinol U.S.A., Inc., an affiliate of Vetoquinol, S.A. of Lure, France. IGI’s companion pet products division produces and markets products under the names EVSCO Pharmaceuticals, Tomlyn and Luv Em. Under the terms of the asset purchase agreement, IGI will receive at closing cash consideration of $16.7 million. In addition, specified liabilities of IGI’s companion pet products division will be assumed by Vetoquinol U.S.A. The transaction also contemplates a license by IGI to Vetoquinol U.S.A. of specified rights relating to the patented Novasome microencapsulation technology for use in specified products and product lines in the animal health business, as well as a supply relationship under which IGI will supply to Vetoquinol U.S.A. certain products relating to the patented Novasome microencapsulation technology. (company website)

>  Infigen, Inc., and its agriculture affiliate, Genmark, announced the successful production of the agriculture industry’s first clones of adult pigs.  The clones, of two boars widely known through the swine industry for their superb offspring, were produced from non-fetal (adult) cells.  All of the clones are healthy and vigorous.  Both boars are owned by Prairie State Semen, Inc. of Champaign, IL  (PRNewswire)

>  GE Medical Systems announced that it has signed a multi-year distribution agreement with Sound Technologies, a distributor of veterinary ultrasound and telemedicine products and services in the North American veterinary industry. The agreement marks the formal entrance of GE Medical Systems into the general veterinary ultrasound market.  GE sold more than $880M of Ultrasound equipment around the globe in 2001, making it the leading supplier of Ultrasound imaging equipment and services in the world.  (company press release)

 

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BRAKKE CONSULTING, INC.
2002 Animal Health Industry Manufacturers Directory

Brakke Consulting’s annual update of our Manufacturers Directory is at the printing company, and we will begin shipping the week of February 18, 2002 for those who have already placed orders.  If you are interested in obtaining a copy of this valuable resource, you can order this directory for $250.00 by contacting Jane Morgan at 972.243.4033 or email jmorgan@brakkeconsulting.com

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Animal Health News

>  US   Researchers at Texas A&M University announced the first-ever successful cloning of a cat.  The work was conducted at Texas A&M using a grant from philanthropist John Sperling’s Apollo Group Inc.  The kitten was cloned from a cumulus cell, which nurtures the developing eggs in a female’s ovary and has been used to clone other animals as well.  It took the researchers 188 tries to get just one kitten. They got 82 embryos but only one cat got pregnant, with a single kitten. (AnimalNet – Reuters)

>  UK   The UK is to tighten its procedures for handling the BSE Offspring Cull after meat from the offspring of two cows with BSE reached the human food chain.  The Department of Environment, Food and Rural Affairs uncovered the two cases of animals having entered the food chain despite having issued a restriction notice to the farmers concerned. The two animals were sold by farmers for slaughter after having had their passports returned. Some of the meat from one carcass, slaughtered in January, is being retained at the abattoir; the other entered the food chain in December.  In both cases there is no reason to think that the offspring had BSE but it is against the law to move them and DEFRA is considering legal action against the farmers. (Wattnet Meatnews)

>  US   About 2,800 birds from a Maine farm were killed yesterday because of a mild strain of avian influenza.  Officials ordered the ducks, pheasants and geese destroyed as well as the farm quarantined as a precaution to protection Maine’s multi-million dollar poultry industry. (Meating Place)

>  US   Pennsylvania dairy farmers are working with the Center for Individual Freedom (CIF) to challenge the constitutionality of the USDA’s mandatory dairy promotion program.  The dairy checkoff is the latest in a growing list of challenges to commodity promotion programs in the wake of the June 25, 2001, ruling by the U.S. Supreme Court. In the United States versus United Foods case, the court ruled that when the government forced mushroom producers to pay for industry advertising, this violated the First Amendment. Enacted by Congress in 1983, the dairy checkoff is funded by dairy producers through a mandatory 15-cent per hundredweight (roughly two cents per gallon) assessment on all milk domestically produced and marketed commercially. Last year, the checkoff collected more than $250 million. (AgWeb)

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Agribusiness News

>  Certis USA, LLC, a subsidiary of Mitsui & Co., Ltd., and 3M Canada Company announced a strategic partnership today.  Certis USA will now represent the 3M sprayable pheromone product line in the U.S. and Mexico agricultural markets.  Under the agreement, Certis USA will sell and market the pheromone products, which are used to disrupt the mating of crop pests.  (PRNewswire)

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Brakke Consulting Viewpoint

Like many of you, we spent the better part of the week at the Western Veterinary Conference.  It was a great meeting and was well attended by both veterinarians and suppliers to the industry. The business attitude is currently reasonably high and shows signs of positive sales for the year in many categories.

There was not a lot of news for the week. We assume this is because many of you have either not been able to close the sale or spent too much time at leisure activities while in Las Vegas.  The news that is reported reflects a combination of smaller manufacturer consolidations, outbreaks of various diseases, and a small bit of new technology.  The positive side of the disease outbreaks is that it demonstrates the continuing need for new and improved animal products.  Is your company working on solutions?

Finally, we are most pleased to be able to announce the addition on Dr. Gilles Guillemette to the firm.  He brings to the Brakke Consulting insights and experiences that will be useful to our clients.

Have a great weekend.

[Ron Brakke]

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