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Brakke Consulting’s
Animal Health News & Notes for September 8, 2000
Copyright © Brakke Consulting, Inc.
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Company Earnings Releases
> Vetoquinol reported sales of FF 633 million ($97 million) for 1999, an increase of 27% over 1998. Revenue was boosted by the group’s acquisition of Canadian J. Webster Laboratories in spring 1999. (Animal Pharm)
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Company News Releases
> Brakke Consulting Inc. has entered into a Strategic Consulting Alliance with Zoaport, Inc. Zoaport is developing a suite of integrated, Internet based solutions for the animal health industry focused on information aggregation, information exchange, and commerce. Zoaport has assembled a world-class management team, advisory board, and set of financial backers, including Atlanta based iXL Ventures. Unique features of the Zoaport offering include comprehensive information delivery, virtual private marketplaces, virtual communities, and mobile access. Brakke Consulting will contribute its knowledge of the animal health industry to the expertise Zoaport has in the fields of information technology, e-commerce, and the Internet. (company press release)
> Neogen Corporation announced that it has completed the acquisition of Squire Laboratories, Inc., and 15 veterinary products produced by the company. Neogen will continue to market the products under the Squire Laboratories label. The terms of the acquisition were approximately $1.0 million in cash. Neogen anticipates sales of Squire products will be approximately $1.0 million in the next 12 months. (PRNewswire)
> Veterinary Medicine Publishing Group announced that it has changed its name to Veterinary Healthcare Communications. The name change reflects the wide variety of multimedia communication vehicles now offered by the group, including Veterinary Economics and Veterinary Medicine magazines, the annual Central Veterinary Conference, websites, custom communications services, and reference books. (company press release)
> PPL Therapeutics PLC of Scotland is contemplating the possible spin-off of its xenotransplant program as a private company based in Canada. PPL is in discussions with a number of Canadian investment companies, including BioCapital Investments of Montreal. PPL has for some months been quietly talking to potential partners about the possible relocation of its
xenotransplant program to Canada. The possible divestiture of the xenotransplant program,
which is still years from profitability, is a bid to win the good graces of investors. (AnimalNet – National Post)
> VetConnect announced that, thanks to technology licensed from Diagnostic Information System Co., veterinarians can now view cumulative laboratory results for their patients over the Internet using VetConnect’s professional portal. VetConnect had already provided veterinarians with the ability to access one-time laboratory results from IDEXX Veterinary Services online. (company press release)
> DirectAg.com has announced that Merial has joined as a new e-business partner. Producers will now be able to purchase at DirectAg.com the full line of Merial over-the-counter livestock products, featuring IVOMEC brand products for the treatment and control of internal and external parasites in a wide range of livestock, including cattle, sheep and pigs. (company press release)
> Allpets.com, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of PetQuarters, Inc., announced the re-launch of its web site and has become the first online pet site to launch its own catalog, increasing market reach to both online and offline audiences. The newly launched site, which replaces both the Allpets.com and the PetQuarters web sites, and the Allpets catalog provide an expanded product and content offering and will be supported by a state-of-the-art distribution and customer service center in Hazelton, Pennsylvania. (PRNewswire)
> pdqVET, the premier provider of Internet applications for veterinarians, has acquired Creative Veterinary Concepts, a veterinary practice and business development company. This alliance enables pdqVET to offer all services and products in a dual mode, serving practices that have Internet access onsite or offsite, practices that have no Internet access at all, and even those practices that are not computerized. All pet-owning clients of its member hospitals can take advantage of these products and services via the Internet or through more traditional means. (company press release)
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BRAKKE CONSULTING, INC.
Serving the Worldwide Animal Health and Pet Care Industries
Providing a complete range of consulting services, including:
> General Management Consulting
> Technology Market Evaluation
> Technology Transfer, Licensing, and Acquisition
> Mergers, Acquisitions, Divestitures
> Industry Information and Market Research
> Executive and Managerial Search
> Marketing and Communications Audits
> Veterinary Practice Management
> Syndicated Market Studies
> Veterinary Market Research Panels
* Headquartered in Dallas, TX (972) 243-4033
* Other US Offices in Kansas City, Chicago & Asheville NC
* International Offices in Munich, Osaka & Sydney
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Animal Health News
> A new outbreak of classical swine fever was confirmed in Suffolk, bringing the total number of cases to eight. The outbreak was the third this week. Officials said that by the end of the week more than 20,000 pigs on East Anglian farms will have been slaughtered since the disease first emerged on August 8. The latest cases, were all linked to the original outbreak. (AnimalNet – PA News)
> Nearly 2,000 head of cattle from different ranches in Mato Grosso do Sul have been found dead as a result of an unknown illness. Experts from the Brazilian Ministry of Agriculture discarded the possibility that they might have died from hoof and mouth disease. They believe that the animals may have died from pasteurellosis. (E-markets – Efe)
> An Amarillo-based group frustrated with the prices it gets for fattened beef cattle is aiming to lock up the rights to market 1.5 million cattle, about one-quarter of the fed cattle sold annually in Texas, by Oct. 1. The progress so far suggests the group may be able to corral enough cattle to match the market clout of the handful of major meatpackers. The nonprofit marketing cooperative, called Consolidated Beef Producers, had won the right to market 906,000 head by Wednesday, well above the 750,000 it considered a minimum. Behind this effort is the simmering resentment over the growing power of the companies that slaughter and market beef. Because of packer consolidation over the years, reaching a price has basically come down to a match of wills between buyers for four packers vs. several hundred sellers. (AnimalNet – Knight-Ridder Tribune)
> Struthers, Inc. announced the birth of seven healthy piglets from non-surgically implanted embryos using the Company’s proprietary Gourley Scope technology. The seven embryos in different stages of development were surgically removed from a host sow utilizing the Company’s mobile operating trailer. The embryos were implanted into a non-anesthetized sow recipient at a research farm facility. The Company believes that this non-surgical embryo implementation process will be significantly more effective than using surgical techniques and has worldwide commercial application. (BW HealthWire)
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Agribusiness News
> The Dow Chemical Company and EPIcyte Pharmaceutical, Inc. announced that they have signed a research and licensing agreement to develop and produce monoclonal antibodies from plants. Monoclonal antibodies are used to prevent and treat human and animal diseases. Potential for the products in animal health will support a new business area for Dow AgroSciences. Products for animal health and food safety could be launched as early as 2006 or 2007. (PRNewswire)
> A jury in U.S. District Court has returned a unanimous verdict finding that researchers at Aventis CropScience should be added as inventors of two patents held by DeKalb Genetics Corp. for glyphosate tolerance in all current Roundup Ready corn. The jury’s decision is the third jury verdict in favor of Aventis CropScience (formerly Rhone-Poulenc Agro) in its dispute with DeKalb, a subsidiary of Pharmacia Corp. (formerly Monsanto Co.), over Roundup Ready corn. The first verdict in April 1999 rescinded a license from Aventis to DeKalb for fraudulent inducement and included a judgment of $65 million. The second jury verdict found that DeKalb infringed an Aventis patent. The third jury verdict finds that Aventis has co-ownership of two DeKalb patents. (PRNewswire)
> Ceres, Inc., a dedicated plant genomics company, and Genset, a leading human genomics company, announced that they have completed a major gene sequencing project characterizing several tens of thousands of genes in corn (Zea mays). Corn is economically the most important crop in the United States with over 77 million acres planted last year and a market value at the farm level of over $18 billion. (PRNewswire)
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Brakke Consulting Viewpoint
I have spent the last 10 days in the NYC and NJ area visiting many of our clients and enjoying the Labor Day weekend in the Big Apple. Thanks to all of you who took the time to meet with me on a host of subjects. It appears from the size of the newsletter this week that many of you were on Holiday. You will note that there are several articles that are e-commerce related. One of these announcements involves our firm and the strategic consulting alliance we have agreed to with Zoaport. In the next few weeks we will be assisting the Zoaport management team with introductions to many of you in the animal health industry. We believe Zoaport has the ability to be one of the long term businesses in the animal health industry.
[Ron Brakke]
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