Animal Health News & Notes for April 23, 2021

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Brakke Consulting’s
Animal Health News & Notes for April 23, 2021
Copyright © Brakke Consulting
Editor: Lynn Fondon DVM MBA
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IN THE NEWS:

Earnings News
Vetoquinol

Other News
American Veterinary Group
Anatara Lifesciences
Animalcare
HerdDogg
Hester Biosciences
ImpriMed
Kemin Industries
Latticework Capital Management
Moichor
myVETstore.ca
Neotribe Ventures
Oak Hill Capital
RAMM Pharma
Rejuvenate Bio
Smart.Vet
TriviumVet
Tyson Fresh Meats
Virbac

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COMPANY EARNINGS RELEASES

• Vetoquinol reported financial results for the first quarter of 2021. The company’s revenues reached EUR 128 million ($153 million), an increase of 24% over the prior-year quarter (+ 28% at constant exchange rates). The company’s performance was helped by new contributions from Drontal and Profender, which were acquired last year from Elanco. (IHS Markit Connect)

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COMPANY NEWS RELEASES

• Hester Biosciences announced it has acquired technology from the Indian Veterinary Research Institute (IVRI) in collaboration with Agrinnovate India that will allow it to manufacture and commercialize vaccines for classical swine fever (CSF) and sheep pox. The vaccines are the first developed in India using locally isolated strains. Financial terms of the deal were not revealed. (IHS Markit Connect)
• TriviumVet announced a collaboration with the Dog Aging Project to explore the potential of the drug Rapamycin to improve health span. The TRIAD Trial is a double-blind, placebo-controlled clinical trial investigating the use of TriviumVet’s novel Rapamycin formulation to potentially slow the aging process in dogs and prolong healthy life. (company press release)
• HerdDogg, Inc. announced the general availability of its long-range ear tags for livestock. HerdDogg’s DoggTags use Bluetooth 5 technology to capture sensor data within an active smart tag attached to the animal’s ear which reads at distances of 100 yards or more and produces real-time alerts, animal location and health. (PRWeb)
• Kemin Industries announced the launch of Paradigmox Green, a new antioxidant solution for the organic livestock production industry in the EMENA (Europe, Middle East, North Africa) region. (ThePoultrySite)
• Latticework Capital Management announced its sale of American Veterinary Group (AVG) to Oak Hill Capital. AVG is a regionally focused network of general practices and innovative urgent care clinics located throughout the Southeastern United States. Financial terms were not disclosed. (Businesswire)
• Rejuvenate Bio announced it has raised more than $10 million in its series A round to propel its gene therapy toward the market for the treatment of mitral valve disease in dogs and toward the clinic for the treatment of aging-related conditions in humans. Rejuvenate Bio’s treatment is a gene therapy that dials up expression of the genes sTGFbetaR2 and FGF21 to reduce levels of the cytokine TGF-beta1 and boost levels of the hormone FGF21, respectively. Both genes are associated with longevity. (Fiercebiotech.com)
• ImpriMed, a veterinary precision medicine startup, announced that it has closed a total of $8 million in Pre-Series A funding with $7.7 million from VCs and the rest as government grant. ImpriMed utilizes AI to predict which anti-cancer drugs are most likely to be effective for a particular dog’s lymphoma or leukemia using live data generated from chemosensitivity and immunophenotyping assays on a patient’s fresh cancer cells. The funds will be used to develop additional prediction models for their current target patients in canine blood cancers, scale up their customer network, and expand pipelines to other types of cancers in dogs and cats. (Pulse2.com)
• Moichor announced it has secured $4 million to support development of its artificial intelligence-backed veterinary diagnostics that provide a complete fast and accurate blood count diagnostic result for birds and reptiles. Currently, Moichor provides its technology as a reference laboratory service. The new funding will allow the firm to expand its automated pathology services and develop a point-of-care device. Neotribe Ventures led the investment along with the participation from existing investors. (IHS Markit Connect)
• Tyson Fresh Meats, the beef and pork subsidiary of Tyson Foods, announced it has entered the US CattleTrace not-for-profit animal disease traceability program. The business is the first meat company to become a beef processor member of the organization. (IHS Markit Connect)
• EU Animalcare announced that the European Medicines Agency granted the firm a marketing authorization for Daxocox (enflicoxib) as a treatment of pain and inflammation associated with osteoarthritis or degenerative joint disease in dogs. Daxocox is available as a flavored oral tablet that is designed to be administered once a week. Animalcare also revealed that Virbac will distribute Daxocox in the majority of European countries outside Animalcare’s seven direct markets. (IHS Markit Connect)
• AUSTRALIA Anatara Lifesciences announced that it has been granted an Australian patent covering the formulation for its animal health product, Detach. Detach is a non-antibiotic therapy designed to prevent and treat diarrhea in piglets using the enzyme bromelain, which is extracted from the stems of pineapples. (Themarketherald.com.au)
• CANADA Vet announced that it has now integrated myVETstore.ca within their Virtual Care platform. This new capability allows veterinary clinics that use myVETstore to have selected items from their product catalogue appear directly within the virtual consultation room, enabling veterinary professionals to recommend specific therapeutic nutrition, medications, and other pet-related items during virtual consultations with pet owners. (PRnewswire)
• URUGUAY RAMM Pharma announced that the Uruguayan Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock and Fisheries (MGAP) through its Veterinary Laboratories Division (DILAVE) has approved and registered NettaVet 10% CBD Formulation, a veterinarian pharmaceutical formulation of highly-purified, plant-derived cannabidiol (“CBD”). According to the company, NettaVet 10% is the first CBD veterinary medicine to obtain a Federal registration as a pharmaceutical product globally. (GlobeNewswire)

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ANIMAL HEALTH STOCK PRICE TRACKER

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ANIMAL HEALTH NEWS

• GERMANY – ASF The number of wild boar that have fallen victim to African Swine Fever virus (ASF) in Germany has exceeded 1,000. The first outbreak of the virus in wild boar took place in September 2020 in a district directly adjacent to the Polish border. ASF has spread to 4 zones in 6 districts, located in 2 states, Brandenburg and Saxony. (PigProgress.net)

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BRAKKE CONSULTING VIEWPOINT

2021 will be another good year for the pet care industry. For our last week’s business survey: How do you think your business results came in during the first quarter of 2021, higher than 51% of the responders reported significant increase over last year and 87% of all responders reported at least a small increase over last year. This is terrific news! With more people are fully vaccinated with COVID-19 vaccines in the next few months, it is reasonable to predict that US the pet care industry will experience a significant growth in 2021.

Similar trends were reported in China last year when COVID-19 was under control after the initial nationwide lockdown. Although part of this growth may be due to compensatory consumption after the pandemic is under control, a significant increase in the total pet population in the last 12 months will be the main driving factor for business growth in the next few quarters and years. So, get ready to hire more staff for your business!

 Jishu Shi
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YOUR VIEW

This week

There has been a lot of talk about pet adoptions increasing during the COVID lockdowns last year, although some data we have seen does not support this.  So let’s hear from you:

Did you, or anyone you know, acquire a new pet in 2020? (make this a check all that apply)