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Brakke Consulting’s
Animal Health News & Notes for
Copyright © Brakke Consulting
Editor: Christine Merle DVM, MBA, CVPM
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IN THE NEWS:
Brakke Consulting News
Brakke Consulting Industry Overview – Registration is Live!
Tails of Talent: Branding Lessons to Win the Talent Game
Earnings News
ECO Animal Health (UK)
Pets at Home (UK)
Company News
Akston Biosciences
Chemlock Nutrition
CrisprBIts (IN)
Dalan Animal Health
E&J (UK)
Elanco
Hill’s Pet Nutrition
Inside Minds (UK)
Instinct Science
Jaguar Health (EU)
Merck Animal Health
National Veterinary Associates
Neurizon
Otto
Phenna Group (UK)
Serenity Vet
The Veterinary Cooperative
VetSkill (UK)
Vetbiolix
Yuyu Pharma
Zoetis
Zoetis (EU)
Animal Health News
Ireland
South Africa
Spain
United States
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Brakke Consulting
2026 Industry Overview
Presented at VMX:
Monday, January 19th, 2-4 pm
Florida Ballroom B-C
Presented at WVC:
Monday, February 16th , 2-4 pm
Four Seasons Ballroom 4
How did the top animal health companies perform in 2025? Did growth slow? What innovation in animal health can we expect and how will the animal health industry bring innovation to market? Answers to these questions and more will be covered at Brakke Consulting’s annual Industry Overview at the VMX and WVC conferences next year.
Key topics and presenters include:
- Industry and Top Global Company 2025 Performance, presented by Bob Jones
- Pet Care: Head Winds or Market Correction?, presented by John Volk
- Innovation in Animal Health: What in the world is it, presented by Chuck Johnson
- Where Innovation Meets Investment: What’s wrong and how to fix it, presented by Alexis Nahama
Also, again at both events, you’ll also hear directly from a panel of executive leaders in the animal health industry. Moderated by Paul Casady, this year’s VMX leadership panel features Jamie Brannan, Executive Vice President and Chief Commercial Officer for Zoetis. In his role, he is responsible for all Zoetis commercial operations across the globe. The discussion will be around Challenges and Opportunities in 2026 in animal health.
This information-packed 2-hour session will be especially valuable for executive leadership, sales and marketing, strategy, and finance managers and decision makers in the animal health industry.
Registration cost is $399 per person. Special group pricing for teams of five or more—pay for four participants, and the fifth is complimentary. To register a group of five or more, please email Amanda McDavid or call 336-396-3916 for assistance with registering.
Click here to register for VMX
Click here to register for WVC
We look forward to seeing you there!
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Company Earnings News
- UK-ECO Animal Health reported revenue increased 19% to 39.4 million pounds (US $52.59 million) for the first half of the year ( sending September 30, 2025) versus previous year. Profit before tax was1.06 million pounds (US $1.41 million) compared to a loss in the previous year. (com)
- UK-Pets at Home announced its half- year (ending October 9, 2025) results with its vet group consumer revenue up 6.7% versus previous year. However the group noted underlying pre-tax profit was down. (com)
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Company News Releases
- Zoetis hosted an Innovation Webcast highlighting its company’s pipeline and proven R&D model. (zoetis.com)
- The FDA has given conditionally approval to Merck’s EXZOLT Cattle-CA1 (fluralaner) topical solution for the prevention and treatment of New World Screwworm (NWS) and treatment and control of cattle fever tick. (company press release)
- Neurizon Therapeutics, a clinical-stage biotech company, has appointed Justine Conway, Global Head of Business Development at Elanco, as a Board Observer and will participate as Elanco’s designated representative. The two companies have an exclusive global license agreement for Monepantel, the active ingredient for Neurizon’s NUZ-001. (com)
- A partnership between Hill’s Pet Nutrition and The Veterinary Cooperative (TVC) will offer Otto’s AI Scribe free to Hill’s Connect clinic partners and TVC member clinics. (com)
- Yuyu Pharma announced a strategic investment in Dalan Animal Health. While the amount of the investment was not disclosed, Dalan plans to broaden its pipeline to poultry and additional aquaculture species. (com)
- Chemlock Nutrition announced the appointment of Simon Wally as Chief Executive Officer. He most recently served as president of ADM animal Nutrition North America. (com)
- Leslie Storms was appointed President of National Veterinary Associates (NVA)’s Ethos Veterinary Health. (com)
- Vetbiolix, a veterinary biotechnology company, announced publication of it’s Proof- of Concept Clinical Study Results for VBX-1000, in Canine Periodontitis in Frontiers in Veterinary Science, a peer-reviewed scientific journal. (com)
- Cornell University launched a clinical study to evaluate Akston Biosciences, once-weekly GLP-1 weight-management therapy for cats. (com)
- Instinct Science has launched Instinct EMR for Primary Care, a PIMS for general practices. (com)
- A monthly subscription model for clinics was launched by Serenity Vet, a veterinary relief management platform. (company press release)
- EU- Market authorization from the European Commission has been received by Zoetis for Lenivia (izenivetmab) for Dogs. (zoetis.com)
- EU- Jaguar Health announced that through its Italian subsidiary ( Napo Therapeutics) has submitted a request for scientific advise from the European Medicines Agency regarding a pathway for approval of Canalevia in the EU for the treatment of general diarrhea in dogs.(com)
- UK- VetSkill, an assessment organization, has been acquired by Phenna Group and will join its E&J group which provides services supporting food and safety services. (co.uk)
- UK- InsideMinds, a veterinary marketing consultant firm, has launched ‘The Inside Series’, a service that analyzes and provides feedback on client conversations. (org)
- IN- CrisprBits, an Indian biotechnology company, has raised US $3 million in funding to scale commercialization of the PathCrisp platform. (in)
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Tails of Talent: Branding Lessons to Win the Talent Game
Why brand reputation, not just recruiting tactics — determines who you can hire
Join us Live at VMX or WVC!
Presented at:
VMX – Monday, January 19 | 10:00 – 11:00 am | Florida Ballroom B-C
WVC – Monday, February 16 | 10:00 – 11:00 am | Four Seasons Ballroom 4
In animal health, the war for talent isn’t won with job postings; it’s won with perception. It starts with how the market sees you. Join us for an insight-rich session that shows why companies with strong, trusted brands consistently attract better candidates, shorten time-to-hire, and boost long-term retention. Using fresh data and real examples from across the industry, our seasoned experts will walk you through how to evaluate your organization’s brand reputation and elevate it to the level top talent seeks out. Instead of chasing candidates, learn how to position your company as the place they want to be.
Presented by:
Jeff Santosuosso – Executive Recruiter – Brakke Consulting
Jake Yarbrough – Group Director – Schaefer Advertising
Click here to register. At only $49, this session is a high-value investment in the future of your recruitment strategy.
Please email Amanda McDavid or call 336-396-3916 for assistance with registering.
We look forward to helping you win the talent game.
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Animal Health Stock Price Tracker
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Animal Health News
- US- NEW GUIDELINES- The Feline Veterinary Medical Association released the 2025 Feline Oral Health and Dental Care Guidelines. (press release)
- US-NEW YORK TIMES- A recent article highlighted GLP-1 drugs for pets as a next frontier for these blockbuster drugs. (com)
- IR- NEW VETERINARY PROGRAM- A new veterinary medical program was launched at the Atlantic Technological University in Ireland. (com)
- IR- BLUETONGUE VIRUS- A case of Bluetongue Virus was discovered in Ireland last week, with additional suspected cases emerging this week. ( co.uk and bbc.com)
- SA- FOOT-AND-MOUTH DISEASE- In order to contain food-and-mouth disease, South Africa is planning a nationwide vaccination of cattle. (com)
- SP- AFRICAN SWINE FEVER-The first case of African swine fever in Spain in more than 30 years was reported in wild boars. The virus threatens EU’s largest pig herd and global pork producer. (com)
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Brakke Consulting Viewpoint
Throughout my career, I have closely examined innovation within the animal health sector. Recently, I have been considering how advancements and adoption of artificial intelligence (AI) could streamline the drug discovery process.
Many startups today emphasize their use of AI to improve efficiency, speed, and cost-effectiveness. What I am eager to understand is how AI can analyze massive datasets, clinical trial results, and genetic information to propose new drug candidates. This can lead to better predictive modeling, thereby reducing development timelines and associated costs.
This week, an Innovation webcast from Zoetis—the world’s largest animal health company—provided insight into practical AI applications in research and development. Dr. Robert Polzer, Executive Vice President and President of R&D at Zoetis, highlighted four key areas where AI is currently being utilized: target identification, candidate selection, clinical trial management, and report generation.
While Zoetis is targeting significant opportunities, could AI become a valuable tool for developing new treatments for orphan diseases and minor species? I hope so. Additionally, AI may help reduce animal testing, pave the way for veterinary precision medicine, and enable AI-driven computation of cross-species pharmacokinetics.
Despite concerns about AI fatigue, it appears that the journey is just beginning, and there is much more potential to be realized in the intersection of AI and Innovation.
Dr. Chuck Johnson
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Your View
Prior to our thanksgiving holiday, we asked how often you are using LMMs versus traditional search engines when doing information searches. While LMM’s are being used less than 15% of the time by the majority (33%) or not at all (29%), the next largest group at 14% use it most of the time (75-100%). Seems like once you start using LMM’s you quickly shift to using it more.
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