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Brakke Consulting’s
Animal Health News & Notes for June 14, 2024
Copyright © Brakke Consulting
Editor: Lynn Fondon DVM MBA
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IN THE NEWS:
Brakke Consulting News
Transaction Insights seminar
Earnings News
BARK
J.M. Smucker
PetMed Express
Other News
Boehringer Ingelheim
Central Garden & Pet
Cresilon
Ellie Diagnostics
HerdDogg
Mella Pet Care
Michelson Found Animals
NAVC
Safari Stem Cell
Serra Ventures
Spectrum Brands Pet Care
Trupanion
United Petfood
VerticalVet
Vetspire
Vet Together
Wellness Pet Company
Wonder Fund North Dakota
Zesty Paws
ZyVet
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Southwest Veterinary Symposium
SWVS 2024 Fort Worth!
Fort Worth, Texas – Fort Worth Convention Center
September 26-29, 2024
Early Bird Registration — Now Until July 31st
Don’t miss Early Bird Registration – Registration is NOW OPEN for the Southwest Veterinary Symposium — a partnership of the Arkansas, Louisiana, New Mexico, Oklahoma, and Texas Veterinary Medicine Associations which provides continuing education for veterinary professionals. Join us this September in Fort Worth, Texas, where you can learn about the latest innovations and products while exploring our exhibit hall, network with other veterinary professionals, and choose from more than 400+ hours of quality CE/RACE-approved sessions. Look at the schedule online at www.swvs.org
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EARNINGS NEWS RELEASES
- PetMed Express, Inc. announced its financial results for its fiscal year ended March 31, 2024. Net sales were $281 million, an increase of 9.5%, driven by the acquisition of PetCareRx partially offset by a decline in PetMeds legacy sales. Net loss was $(7.5) million, compared to net income of $5.1 million for the prior fiscal year. (seekingalpha)
- TheM. Smucker Co. announced results for the fourth quarter of its fiscal year ending April 30, 2024. US Retail Pet Foods net sales were $453 million, a decline of 42% reflecting the divestiture of certain pet food brands on April 28, 2023. Excluding the noncomparable net sales in the prior year related to the divested pet food brands, net sales increased 11%. Segment profit was $114 million, a decline of 22%. (seekingalpha)
- BARK, Inc. announced its financial results for the full year ended March 31, 2024. Revenue was $490 million. Net loss improved 40% to $37 million, compared to last year. (Pet Business)
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Brakke Consulting
Transaction Insights: Unlocking the Secrets to Successful Business Deals in Animal Health
Wednesday, August 28th | Kansas City
Are you seeking to navigate the complex landscape of buying and selling businesses or technology in the animal health and nutrition industry? Given the success of last year’s relaunch, we are excited to announce our educational transaction seminar for 2024, tailored specifically for animal health professionals.
It’s more than just due diligence – we will help you unlock the secrets to successful deals in animal health. This one-day comprehensive seminar is designed to equip you with the knowledge, tools, and strategies to make informed decisions and to successfully manage a transaction in the animal health industry.
Presenters include Senior Brakke Consultants Jim Kroman, Paul Casady, and Randy Freides. The Seminar will be held on Wednesday August 28th, immediately following the KCAHC Animal Health Summit in Kansas City. Click here to sign up today and receive a discount.
For more information, contact Amanda McDavid at amcdavid@brakkeconsulting.com or 336.396.3916.
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COMPANY NEWS RELEASES
- Trupanion, Inc. and Boehringer Ingelheim announced a strategic collaboration to leverage their collective expertise and data to derive insights which will enable the early detection of risk factors for common conditions affecting pets. The two companies will work together on continuing veterinarian and consumer education, product extensions, promotions, peer-reviewed publications, and other efforts in support of pet healthcare. (company press release)
- The FDA announced it has approved generic ZyVet Animal Health, Inc.’s Phenylpropanolamine Hydrochloride chewable tablets for the control of urinary incontinence in dogs. (FDA)
- Cresilon announced it has entered into a Preferred Partnership Agreement with VerticalVet, LLC to provide the organization’s Group Purchasing Organization (GPO) members with access to Vetigel hemostatic gel. (streetinsider.com)
- Spectrum Brands Pet Care has recalled FURminator deShedding Ultra Premium Dog Conditioner due to potential contamination with Pseudomonas aeruginosa The product was sold online and in pet supply stores in the US and Canada. (AVMA SmartBrief – CPSC)
- Aqueon, an aquatic solution brand in the Central Garden & Pet portfolio, announced the launch of the brand’s first app, BlueIQ, to provide an end-to-end solution for new and experienced aquarium fish keepers. (company press release)
- United Petfood has entered the US market by purchasing a production facility in Mishawaka, Indiana, from Wellness Pet Company. Financial terms were not disclosed. (petfood industry)
- HerdDogg announced it has formally closed its $6 million Series A4 fundraising round, led by Serra Ventures and Wonder Fund North Dakota, with participation from sustainable food and ag fund Lever VC Fund II and others. (Feedstuffs)
- Ellie Diagnostics announced the launch of Ellie Specialty, giving veterinarians a centralized platform that streamlines lab orders, results, reporting, and proactively monitoring across a nationwide network of laboratories. (prweb)
- Mella Pet Care announced a partnership integration with practice management system provider Vetspire. Veterinarians can now integrate Vetspire and other practice management systems with the Mella Pet Care desktop app to instantly collect vital signs from Mella devices. (DVM360)
- The FDA sent a warning letter to Safari Stem Cell, stating that the company is marketing unapproved new animal drugs. FDA Investigators also documented significant deviations from the Current Good Manufacturing Practice (CGMP) regulations for Finished Pharmaceuticals. (AVMA SmartBrief – FDA)
- NAVC and the Michelson Found Animals Foundation (MFA) announced the formation of a partnership. At the center of the partnership is Compass, an annual global conference where industry leaders, visionaries, investors, and inventors convene to collaborate and explore future opportunities and key impact areas across the entire global animal health and pet care landscape. The first Compass event takes place in April 2025 at the Gaylord National Harbor. (company press release)
- Vet Together – with a mission to revolutionize how business is conducted between veterinary practices and their vendors – announced it will hold its inaugural business development conference in Las Vegas in November. (company press release)
- EU Zesty Paws, which is incorporated under the umbrella of the nutrition corporation H&H Group, announced it has launched in the UK, France, Italy and Germany through a listing on Amazon. The company’s portfolio also became available across 457 brick-and-mortar locations through Great Britain and Europe. (Globalpets)
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ANIMAL HEALTH STOCK PRICE TRACKER
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ANIMAL HEALTH NEWS
- US – PET FOOD CLAIMS The Association of American Feed Control Officials (AAFCO) Pet Food Committee voted not to establish a voluntary “Controlled Copper” claim for dog food. Research and discussion for a potential claim had been ongoing since February 2021 after an article was published in the Journal of the American Veterinary Medical Association (JAVMA) concerning the current AAFCO nutritional guidelines for copper (Cu) in dog foods. (Pet Product News)
- SCOTLAND – EQUINE PAIN A team of researchers at Utrecht University Faculty of Veterinary Medicine in the Netherlands the University of Edinburgh in the United Kingdom have developed the Equine Brief Pain Inventory (EBPI, a questionnaire to help horse owners identify and monitor signs of osteoarthritis (OA) pain to facilitate earlier and more effective treatment for horses. (AVMA)
- US – TELEMEDICINE Florida is on the verge of joining a handful of states that allow veterinary care to be provided online without the need for an initial in-person examination. The proposed new law was approved by lawmakers in March, and a veto from the governor is not anticipated, given the bill’s unanimous support in the state Legislature. (VINNews)
- ISRAEL – INNOVATION The Coller Dolittle Challenge for Interspecies Two-Way Communication has been launched by the Jeremy Coller Foundation and Tel Aviv University. The Challenge is offering a grand prize for “cracking the code” of either a $10 million equity investment or a $500,000 cash prize; there will also be an annual prize of $100,000 to help researchers in the field come up with “scientifically rigorous models and algorithms for coherent communication with non-human organisms until interspecies communication is achieved”. (Vet Advantage – The Guardian)
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BRAKKE CONSULTING VIEWPOINT
Telephonophobia is a new term that I recently learned when reading an article in the Wall Street Journal. It means the avoidance of using the phone for a good old phone conversation.
I am going to show my age a bit here but the lack of willingness of our younger generations to pick up the phone and talk to someone drives me crazy. The article says that the younger generations actually experience anxiety with placing a phone call. Likewise, the roadblocks that companies put in place to prevent you from speaking to a human to help resolve an issue drives me over the cliff.
During my professional life working for a major pharma company, I could see this evolving. With the explosion of email, employees communicated primarily via email instead of by phone and that further evolved with text messaging and instant messaging tools. An issue that could be resolved with a five-minute conversation routinely took 10 or more back-and-forth messages with the incidence of misunderstandings increasing.
The phone now fits somewhere between a text message and a Zoom call. I realize that convenience and speed drive us toward electronic communications, but have we lost the ability to simply use a phone? Try it, you might like it.
Randy Freides
P.S. Call your father this weekend to wish him a Happy Father’s Day…with your phone.
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YOUR VIEW
Last week, we asked your guess about the number of insured pets in the US. 31% thought it is 3.028 million pets; 30% thought 5.677 million pets; 26% said 7.583 million pets; and 13% said 12.125 million pets.
The answer? 5.677 million pets in the US are insured.
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