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Brakke Consulting’s
Animal Health News & Notes for January 31, 2025
Copyright © Brakke Consulting
Editor: Lynn Fondon DVM MBA
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IN THE NEWS:
Brakke Consulting News
Cancer in Dogs and Cats report – preorder now
Brakke Consulting 2025 Industry Overview
Earnings News
Norbrook
Pets at Home
Other News
Axitan Limited
Chou2 Pharma
Covetrus
The Dog’s Butcher
Ethos Discovery
Fear Free
Hill’s
Infinium Veterinary
LifeLearn
Multi Radiance Veterinary
The Nutriment Company
QualiTech
Royal Canin
Saint Roch Veterinary
Smithfield Foods
Vapotherm VET
Virbac
WH Group
Your Pet Nutrition
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Brakke Consulting
Brakke Consulting 2025 Industry Overview
Presented at WVC: Monday, March 3rd , 2-4 pm, Four Seasons Ballroom 4
How did the top animal health companies perform in 2024? What critical issues and new products will impact industry performance in 2025? 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 2024 Performance, presented by Bob Jones
- Pets and Vets: Companion Animal Practice in Transition, presented by John Volk
- Parasiticides in Pets – Back to the Future, presented by Darrell Klug
- Regenerative Medicine ─ Future Game-Changing Therapies, presented by Mike McGinley
Also, again at both events, you will be able to hear directly from a panel of top leaders in the animal health industry. Moderated by Paul Casady, the topic for the panel will be “Opportunities and Challenges in 2025.” The panelists for WVC are Jesper Nordengaard, CEO, Dechra; and Tammi Lesser, Sr. VP, Sales & Marketing, Antech.
This information-packed 2-hour session will be especially valuable for executive leadership, sales and marketing, strategy, and finance managers and for decision makers in the animal health industry.
Click here to register for WVC
You can also email Amanda McDavid or call at 336-396-3916. Registration cost is $399; there are discounts for multiple attendees from the same company. We look forward to seeing you there!
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EARNINGS NEWS RELEASES
- Norbrook Holdings reported financial results for the fiscal year ended August 2, 2024. Sales were GBP 219 million ($272 million), a year-over-year decline of 6%. Profit was GBP 5.3 million ($6.6 million), up from the GBP 3.9 million recorded in 2023. (com)
- Pets at Home reported financial results for the 12 weeks to January 2, 2025. Revenue was flat at GBP 362 million ($450 million) (down 2.8% like-for-like). Retail revenue fell 2.8% like-for-like; but the veterinary division recorded like-for-like growth of 20%. (com)
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Brakke Consulting
2025 Cancer in Dogs and Cats report – coming in March
Pre-order by February 28
Did you know that cancer is the #1 cause of death in adult dogs? It’s also a leading health concern of dog owners. So how is cancer addressed by the veterinary profession, and what kind of market is there for veterinary cancer therapies?
Brakke Consulting’s new 2025 Cancer in Dogs and Cats report includes information on the incidence, diagnosis, and treatment of the common veterinary cancers. It covers currently approved veterinary therapies and those in development, as well as estimates of the numbers of pets treated.
The study includes a survey of 300 general veterinary practitioners about incidence of cancer and frequency of treatment; as well as a survey of 1,000 pet owners to determine what they are willing to pay to treat a pet with cancer.
The report is available for pre-order for $7,995 until February 28, and $8,500 thereafter. The report will be published in March. For more information, please contact Dr. Lynn Fondon at info@brakkeconsulting.com .
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COMPANY NEWS RELEASES
- Virbac announced the launch of Zenifel Pheromone Products with a combination of feline facial pheromones and plant-based Nepeta cataria extracts (commonly known as catnip) to help cats feel calm and secure in even the most stressful situations. (news-journal.com)
- Hill’s Pet Nutrition announced several new products launching in 2025 with ActivBiome+ microbiome technology: Prescription Diet i/d for puppies and kittens including ActivBiome+ Digestion; Prescription Diet Multi-Organ for dogs and cats, featuring ActivBiome+ Kidney Defense; and Prescription Diet Brain Care + j/d for dogs and cats. Hill’s also enhanced its Science Diet portfolio, bringing ActivBiome+ Multi-Benefit technology to its dry life stage products. (Petfood Processing)
- Royal Canin announced updates to its Royal Canin Academy (RCA), introducing a more user-friendly and innovative digital learning platform designed for veterinary professionals. The revamped platform includes features like flexible and mobile learning, a new interface, personalized course management, and progress tracking. (Petfood Industry)
- Covetrus announced the Covetrus Platform, a comprehensive and connected offering of solutions designed specifically for today’s modern veterinary practices. The Covetrus Platform optimizes every touchpoint between a veterinarian and a pet parent from pre-visit to post-appointment for a seamless connected care experience. Covetrus’ VetSuite members receive access to the Covetrus Platform along with other benefits. Separately, Covetrus also announced the launch of its AI-powered workflow automation and treatment board capabilities within Covetrus Pulse, now an integral part of the newly advanced Covetrus Platform. (prnewswire, prnewswire)
- Smithfield Foods’s initial public offering raised $522 million with shares pricing below the marketed range. Chinese company WH Group, which acquired Smithfield more than a decade ago, will maintain control of the company after the listing. (Feedstuffs)
- Chou2 Pharma LLC announced that it has initiated a new study in partnership with Ethos Discovery to evaluate pharmacokinetics of a potential new proprietary animal drug formulation for treating idiopathic epilepsy in dogs. The new potential therapy has been developed utilizing Chou2 Pharma’s precision cannabinoid formulating platform. (com)
- Axitan Limited announced that it has entered into a strategic partnership with QualiTech for the development and distribution of Axitan’s FORC3 product for the swine, ruminant and all poultry markets in North America, except broilers. Axitan will continue to be the exclusive distributor for broilers. (businesswire)
- Infinium Veterinary announced that they are now an exclusive distributor on the Vapotherm VET0 product line designed for High-Flow Oxygen therapy. (company announcement)
- Multi Radiance Veterinary announced the launch of the Mpact Vet Piezoelectric Acoustic Shockwave Device. (company announcement)
- Saint Roch Veterinary, LLC, a wholly owned division of Topikos Scientific, Inc., introduced GingiGuard, a patented dental care product for dogs. A single topical treatment with GingiGuard gel in the subgingival sulcus after standard scaling, cleaning and polishing retards plaque growth for four weeks or more. Saint Roch is actively seeking joint venture partners for market development. (com)
- LifeLearn announced the launch of two AI-powered solutions for ClientEd and Sofie. Ask Eddie – ClientEd’s revolutionary AI-powered chat solution – provides highly relevant, veterinarian-approved answers from ClientEd’s proprietary knowledge base; while Sofie has now evolved into an innovative AI-powered decision support tool. (company press release)
- Fear Free announced the launch of the Emergency & Urgent Care Practice Certification program. (prweb)
- UK The Nutriment Company announced it has acquired two UK-based companies: The Dog’s Butcher, which creates raw food marketed for working dogs, and Your Pet Nutrition, a supplement company. Financial terms were not disclosed. Nutriment now has 16 brands under its umbrella. (Globalpets)
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ANIMAL HEALTH STOCK PRICE TRACKER
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ANIMAL HEALTH NEWS
- US – AVIAN INFLUENZA The USDA has reported the first confirmed case of HPAI H5N9 in poultry in the US, on a duck farm in California. US authorities also detected the more common H5N1 strain on the same farm. (Reuters)
- WORLD – HEALTH EDUCATION The World Organization for Animal Health (WOAH) announced the launch of its new online space: The Animal Echo, a collaborative knowledge-sharing space offering insights on some of the world’s most pressing challenges through the lens of animal health. (association press release)
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BRAKKE CONSULTING VIEWPOINT
It was great to see many of our News & Notes subscribers at the VMX conference in Orlando this week and we are very grateful to those that attended the 2025 Animal Health Industry Overview on Monday afternoon. This was the best attended session we have ever had, so thanks to all of you for your support.
As I walked the exhibition hall and talked to the exhibitors, everyone seemed to be positive about 2025, especially those with new products to launch. Elanco’s combination parasiticide, Credlio Quattro was launched and the company was taking orders, along with recently approved Zenrelia for atopic dermatitis. There was some buzz around Merck’s injectable Bravecto parasiticide and possible dermatology product later in the year.
Another notable launch was IDEXX’s new lymphoma early detection test – IDEXX Cancer Dx – notable for its affordability and ability to expand on to other cancers. There was some talk about Zoetis’s Librela for canine OA pain, but my sense is that veterinarians are simply learning how to use it – my 10-year-old athletic Labrador retriever is doing fantastic after his third injection.
We will hold our Industry Overview at WVC in Las Vegas on March 3rd, so if you missed the one in Orlando, you still have a chance to attend. Hope to see you there.
Bob Jones
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YOUR VIEW
Last week, we asked if you believed that animal health companies are investing adequately in R&D for livestock, and almost 80% said that they were not. (As we pointed out in the Overview this week, the growth in the livestock business for many animal health companies rivaled the growth in the companion animal business in 2024.)
This week
This week, let’s get your view on adopting innovation in the veterinary drug space. At the Overview, we talked about how new, innovative products drove growth in the veterinary industry in 2025 and at VMX, we heard about how veterinarians will learn over time how to prescribe and use new veterinary products.
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