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Brakke Consulting’s
Animal Health News & Notes for September 17, 2010
Copyright © Brakke Consulting, Inc.
Editor: Lynn Fondon, DVM MBA
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IN THE NEWS:
Brakke news
market research services
other news
AgFeed Industries
Ainsworth Pet Nutrition
Anacor Pharmaceuticals
Dad’s Pet Care
Dechra
Digital Angel
Elanco
Hill’s
M2P2
Macleod Pharmaceuticals
MWI
Nestle Purina PetCare
Pfizer
Positive ID
PurinaCare Insurance
Waggin’ Train
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COMPANY NEWS RELEASES
> Pfizer Animal Health announced it has gained full licensure from the USDA for its FluSure Pandemic swine vaccine. The vaccine helps pork producers protect their herds from the pandemic H1N1 (pH1N1) strain of Swine Influenza Virus (SIV). (company press release)
> MWI Veterinary Supply announced a new affiliation with Hill’s Pet Nutrition, providing access of the full line of Hill’s Prescription Diets and top selling products from the Science Diet line to MWI customers utilizing the Vetstreet Home Delivery service. (company press release)
> Dechra Veterinary Products announced it has received FDA approval to market Equidone Gel, which contains the active ingredient domperidone. Equidone Gel is a patent-protected new animal drug approval (NADA) and the only FDA approved product to prevent fescue toxicosis in periparturient mares. (company press release)
> Macleod Pharmaceuticals, Inc., announced the launch of apple-flavored Uniprim. It is the first flavored sulfa antibiotic for equine patients. (company press release)
> Anacor Pharmaceuticals announced an agreement with Eli Lilly and Company and its animal health division Elanco to create new therapeutics for animal health. The partnership has been established with the aim of enhancing pioneering remedial compounds to meet requirements in both companion and food animals. (Healthcare Digital)
> PositiveID Corporation announced that it has presented an offer to the Digital Angel Corporation board of directors to purchase all the outstanding shares of Digital Angel common stock for $0.60 per share, representing a 60% premium to Digital Angel’s average closing price for the 20 trading days ending on September 14th. Based upon this price, PositiveID proposes to exchange 0.67 share of its common stock for each outstanding share of Digital Angel. (Globe Newswire)
> Nestlé announced that it has agreed to acquire the Waggin’ Train dog snacks business. The Waggin’ Train snacks business will be a subsidiary of the Nestlé Purina PetCare Company. Waggin’ Train had sales of around $200 million for the twelve months ending June 2010. Financial details were not disclosed. (company press release)
> PurinaCare Insurance Services Inc. announced that the company is now approved to offer its products in all 50 states and the District of Columbia. (company press release)
> Dad’s Pet Care announced a name change to Ainsworth Pet Nutrition, following a restructuring of the company and a series of acquisitions made to expand its product offering. (Pet Nutrition e-news)
> Chinese firm AgFeed Industries announced that it has completed the acquisition of Iowa-based hog producer M2P2 LLC. M2P2, which produces 1.3 million market hogs annually, is a joint venture partner with AgFeed in AgFeed International Protein Technology Corp. AgFeed paid a total of roughly $25.6 million, subject to post-closing adjustment, to buy M2P2. (Meating Place)
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BRAKKE CONSULTING, INC.
MARKET RESEARCH SERVICES
Throughout the year, Brakke Consulting, Inc., performs market research surveys and studies for client companies. If your firm needs help assessing the feasibility of a new product or technology, identifying the opinions and trends of product consumers, or determining the current market for products, Brakke Consulting, Inc. can build a market study to meet your needs. We have a database in place of several thousand small animal veterinarians and the ability to custom-tailor surveys of other animal health consumers. We also produce syndicated studies in specific animal health market areas.
For more information, go to www.BrakkeConsulting.com.
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ANIMAL HEALTH NEWS
> US – CONFERENCE PARTNERSHIP The North American Veterinary Conference (NAVC) and the National Association of Veterinary Technicians in America (NAVTA) announced that, beginning in 2011, the scientific meeting of NAVTA will be offered at the NAVC conference. (press release)
> US – VETERINARY SERVICES BILL A bill that would authorize USDA to provide federal matching fund to improve food animal veterinary services, particularly in underserved rural areas, passed the US House of Representatives and will now move to the Senate. Under this bill, which provides 50% federal matching funds as grants, eligible applicants must carry out programs or activities which will substantially relieve the veterinary shortages throughout the country. (Feedstuffs)
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BRAKKE CONSULTING VIEWPOINT
Two of the items in this week’s news announced FDA approvals for some equine products, and another was related to a swine vaccine approval. That’s a big week for the regulatory agencies and the companies receiving the approvals. Hopefully, there will be two or three more approvals every week for the balance of the year.
There was another announcement related to a licensing deal to a large firm, plus some additional industry acquisitions/mergers. The acquisition of a US swine production company by a Chinese company is one of the most interesting in our view. Chinese companies have been supplying basic compounds and chemicals to the marketplace for sometime. In the past year they have announced the start up of a generic feed additive company. Now they are entering the actual production of animal protein here in the US. Hopefully, much of animal protein this company produces will be shipped to China to assist in our balance of trade. Will there be additions acquisitions in the animal protein markets in the coming months?
Have a great weekend!!
Ron Brakke
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