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Brakke Consulting’s
Animal Health News & Notes for March 14, 2025
Copyright © Brakke Consulting
Editor: Lynn Fondon DVM MBA
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IN THE NEWS:
Brakke Consulting News
Brakke Search
Other News
ADM Animal Nutrition
Ancera
Anivive
Antech
AquaTactics
Bimeda
dvmGRO
Fredun Pharmaceuticals
HT Vista
Inventory Ally
Kemin Industries
Patterson Veterinary
Perro
Tedaisy
TEEF for Life
VerticalVet
Vidium
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Brakke Search
Hiring managers and talent professionals! We know that talent and teamwork make our organizations successful. We owe it to ourselves to maximize our chances of attracting the best talent and organizing our teams to let them shine. In this competitive environment where we’re selling more than buying we need an advantage.
Brakke Consulting and Brakke Search can help. We’ve been serving our industry exclusively since 1986, focusing our executive recruiting on our clients’ specific needs. Let us put our extensive network and vast experience to work for you.
Our consultants have led many of the key players in our industry. Whether it’s a commercial, financial, scientific/R&D, operations/manufacturing, veterinary, or other technical role, we know what it takes to succeed. And how to attract top talent to your team.
Jeff Santosuosso leads our efforts. He’d be pleased to speak with you to understand your needs. You can reach him at jeff@brakkeconsulting.com. Learn more at www.brakkeconsulting.com, his LinkedIn page, and the Brakke Search page, where he provides tips and best practices for hiring managers and talent professionals. We look forward to hearing from you.
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COMPANY NEWS RELEASES
- Antech introduced trūRapid FOUR, an in-house test for canine vector-borne disease screening. trūRapid FOUR is a lateral flow test used to detect canine antibodies to Anaplasma spp., Ehrlichia spp., and Lyme C6 (Borrelia burgdorferi), as well as heartworm antigen, using whole blood, serum, or plasma. (company press release)
- Anivive announced the expansion of its Long Beach lab to accommodate increased demand for its specialty pathology services through Vidium, a leader in veterinary diagnostics. (prnewswire)
- Patterson Veterinary announced a new relationship with dvmGRO, aimed at providing independents with the resources needed to compete, grow and prosper. dvmGRO is a group purchasing organization (GPO) that grants members unique access to tools, expertise, insights and community. (company press release)
- AquaTactics, Bimeda’s aquaculture division, announced its entry into the autogenous fish vaccine sector, following USDA approval. AquaTactics provides a broad range of fish health services, including veterinary services, Vaccination protocol design, fish health products, and pathology services. (company press release)
- Kemin Industries launched PROSIDIUM, a patent pending feed pathogen control solution. PROSIDIUM is based on peroxy acids, which break up the cell membrane of pathogens, leading to an immediate reduction of Salmonella risk and viral transmission through animal feed; the residual acids continue to protect the feed. (prnewswire)
- ADM Animal Nutrition announced a recall of specific pelleted animal feed products because they may contain elevated levels of copper or have levels of zinc below the represented amounts which could be harmful to cattle. No illnesses or deficiency impacts have been reported to date. (FDA)
- HT Vista has launched a new diagnostic function on the HT Vista screening device. The update provides a new scoring system of low, moderate or high cancer risk which replaces the original numerical HDI scores. (company press release)
- TEEF for Life announced the addition of its new Lickable Treat Powder to their product line-up. The prebiotic powder includes TEEF’s Protektin42K prebiotic formula which combats the microbes that cause bad breath and dental issues, while growing the microbes that are essential for dental health. (company press release)
- Fredun Pharmaceuticals announced its foray into the large animal veterinary segment, with the launch of targeted products Freossi Tone+ and Freossi Power. (business-standard.com)
- Inventory Ally announced a preferred partnership with VerticalVet. This collaboration brings exclusive benefits to VerticalVet’s more than 2,000 member clinics. (company press release)
- Ancera announced the launch of Precision Downtime, a new software solution that helps poultry integrators optimize flock transitions with real-time, farm-specific data. The platform collects real-time data from poultry houses, analyzes microbial conditions and prescribes the optimal number of downtime days, preventing unnecessary losses and improving the conditions for healthy birds. (Feedstuffs)
- UK Pet insurance player Tedaisy announced it has acquired pet tech app Perro. Financial terms were not disclosed. (Globalpets)
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ANIMAL HEALTH STOCK PRICE TRACKER
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ANIMAL HEALTH NEWS
- HUNGARY Hungary’s National Food Chain Safety Authority confirmed the first case of foot-and-mouth disease in 50 years was detected on a cattle farm in Kisbajcs. Hungary’s Chief Veterinary Officer has ordered immediate closure of the farm, a ban on the transport of susceptible livestock and the initiation of an epidemiological investigation. (Feedstuffs)
- US – GI RESEARCH Texas A&M Gastrointestinal Laboratory (GI Lab) researchers have identified changes in several biomarkers that can be used to identify preclinical inflammatory bowel disease in dogs. The team of VMBS investigators plans to use their discovery to study whether specific dietary interventions can help prevent at-risk dogs from developing GI disease. The study was published in the Journal of Veterinary Internal Medicine. (dvm360)
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BRAKKE CONSULTING VIEWPOINT
Last week’s newsletter contained an announcement about Brown Food’s UnReal Milk, lab-made whole cow milk. It may be instructive to review the status of plant-based meat.
When introduced, plant-based meat was viewed as a major disruptor of the meat industry. Companies claimed it would displace animal protein in the not-too-distant future ¬ a major threat to the livestock and poultry industries. BeyondMeat went public in 2019 and soon hit a high of $239. Sales of plant-based meat substitutes climbed to $1.3 billion in 2020 with forecasts to hit $10 billion or even $20 billion within a few years. It didn’t pan out that way. Category sales have been plummeting and today are probably under $500 million. BeyondMeat stock hovers around $3. Many stock analysts have stopped covering the company and the sector.
What happened? It turns out that it costs a lot more to manufacture plant-based meat than to produce beef, pork and chicken. Non-meat meat also created complications for fast food restaurants because of the need to inventory and serve a completely different, additional line of burger and nugget products. And ersatz meat really isn’t healthier. The protein is lower in quality, the products are higher in sodium, and calories are similar. Perhaps even more important, manufacturers haven’t been able to match the umami, or savoriness, of meat. So the products are pretty much relegated to the vegan and vegetarian segments of the market, which are tiny. Consequently, the animal health industry doesn’t have to worry about cattle, swine and chicken production declining after all.
John Volk
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YOUR VIEW
In response to last week’s news item about lab-created milk, we asked “How likely are you to give it a try?” Only 6% said they were very likely; 71% said they were not at all likely.
This week
This week please tell us: What has been your experience with plant-based meat?
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