Animal Health News & Notes for May 28, 2021

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Brakke Consulting’s
Animal Health News & Notes for May 28, 2021
Copyright © Brakke Consulting
Editor: Lynn Fondon DVM MBA
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IN THE NEWS:

Earnings News
Pets At Home

Other News
Akorn
Animalytix
Anivive
AquaTactics Fish Health
Because, Animals
Bentley’s Pet Stuff
Bigsal
Bimeda
Bioapp
Blonk Consultants
Chewy
Creso Pharma
Dee-O-Gee
The Dog Stop
DSM
Elanco
EVAH Corp.
Fear Free
Fit Pets for Rescues
Franvest Capital Partners
Guidepost Growth Equity
Healthy Pet Connect
HIG Capital
ImpriMed
Modern Veterinary Therapeutics
MWI
Nationwide
Nestlé Purina PetCare
Nutreco
Orkla ASA
Petco (pet food delivery)
Petco (stock offering)
Pet Stuff Franchising
Phillips Pet Food & Supplies
PlantForm
Polvet
POSCO International
Pro Clear Aquatic Systems
Provectus Biopharmaceuticals
Sam’s Club
Scooby Aggregator
Telenostic
TheraVet
Tractive
Trouw Nutrition
Versele-Laga
Vetster
Vetstream
VetSuccess
Walmart
whiskerDocs
Whitecap Venture Partners
Zoetis

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COMPANY EARNINGS RELEASES

• Britain’s Pets At Home announced financial results for its fiscal year ended March 25, 2021. Retail revenue grew by 9% to GBP 1.01 billion ($1.4 billion). Underlying profit before tax was 6.4% lower year-on-year at GBP 87.5 million ($122 million) after approximately GBP 30 million in COVID-related revenue restrictions and costs. (Reuters)

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COMPANY NEWS RELEASES

• EVAH Corp. announced the signing of four contracts with Elanco Animal Health to acquire and develop technologies in animal health. The contracts relate to four products in development (two feed additives and two vaccines) targeting three species: salmon, swine and poultry. Terms of the deal remain confidential but do not involve an equity investment in EVAH from Elanco. (Newswire.ca)
• Bimeda announced the acquisition of AquaTactics Fish Health. AquaTactics’ fish health services include regulatory approval consulting, custom prescription vaccines, veterinary consulting and aqua business coaching. The company also has an aquaculture product portfolio. Financial terms were not disclosed. (IHS Markit Connect)
• Nestlé Purina PetCare announced it has completed its $19 million expansion project in New York, which will boost production capacity for its new Fancy Feast Savory Cravings. Purina’s investment in the operations is one of several active expansions totaling $2 billion at the company’s pet care facilities across the United States. (Pet Product News)
• Akorn Operating Company announced it has entered into a deal to sell its consumer health business to an affiliate of Prestige Consumer Healthcare. The $230 million cash deal will allow Akorn to focus on its core businesses of prescription generics and branded drugs for the human and animal health markets. (IHS Markit Connect)
• Chewy, Inc. announced enhancements to their Connect with a Vet telehealth service. The expansion includes a video consultation feature, the ability to preschedule a virtual vet consultation, and extended hours of operation including weekends which will begin later this month. (company press release)
• Petco Health and Wellness Company, Inc. announced the expansion of its successful same-day delivery of fresh pet food, now available in most markets nationwide. The expansion builds on last year’s same-day delivery service launch accessible through petco.com and the Petco app. (company press release)
• Petco Health and Wellness Company, Inc. announced that the Company’s principal stockholder, Scooby Aggregator, LP, intends to offer for sale 22,000,000 shares of the Company’s Class A common stock in an underwritten secondary offering and will receive all of the proceeds from the Offering. The Company is not offering any shares of its Class A common stock in the Offering and will not receive any proceeds from the Offering, including from any exercise by the underwriters of their option to purchase additional shares. The shares will be offered at a price to the public of $24.00 per share. (company press release)
• Anivive announced a collaboration with MWI Animal Health to accelerate veterinarians’ access to Laverdia-CA1 (verdinexor). Laverdia-CA1, the first oral canine lymphoma treatment conditionally approved by the FDA, is in stock and available to order through MWI. (PRNewswire)
• ImpriMed, Inc. announced the launch of the ImpriMed Chemo Response Prediction and ImpriMed Immunophenotyping for Canine Lymphoma. The service uses artificial intelligence (AI) to predict which cancer therapy drugs are most likely to be effective for a particular dog’s lymphoma or leukemia using ‘live’ cell data from chemosensitivity and immunophenotyping. The service utilizes just a fine needle aspiration (FNA) sample and can deliver accurate results to the veterinarians in 3-4 days. (Globenewswire)
• DSM, in partnership with Blonk Consultants, announced the launch of Sustell, a platform that uses artificial intelligence to collect animal production data at the farm level. The data is then analyzed by representatives from DSM and Blonk, who develop potential paths for producers to take so they can improve their environmental impact. (Vet Advantage)
• Phillips Pet Food & Supplies announced it is partnering with Pro Clear Aquatic Systems in its Pennsylvania, Florida, South Carolina and Massachusetts distribution centers, and with Versele-Laga to distribute Higgins Premium Pet Foods out of its Texas distribution center. (Pet Business)
• Dee-O-Gee pet franchise announced it is merging with Bentley’s Pet Stuff to help launch Pet Stuff Franchising. Pet Stuff Franchising will soon offer pet store franchise concepts across the country, including Bentley’s Pet Stuff, Dee-O-Gee and others. Financial terms were not disclosed. (Pet Business)
• VetSuccess announced the launched of its Premium Veterinary Industry Tracker. The data analytics tool helps professionals stay on top of trends and changes in revenue and visits for the veterinary market with transactional data that is updated daily and the ability to filter by date, state, and visit type. (company press release)
• whiskerDocs announced the upcoming release of an expanded service offering. As part of the company’s teletriage and telehealth services, whiskerDocs will be adding support for avian pet parents in the summer of 2021. (company press release)
• Animalytix announced the launch of DVMetrics, a service that automates and digitizes all safety data sheets for veterinary practices. According to the company, the Safety Data Sheet Library is the most comprehensive database of veterinary SDS for hazardous products. (Vet Advantage)
• Vetstream announced the launch of “Webpartner Owner Factsheets,” to help veterinary practice clients understand more about the health and wellness of their animals. The factsheets are available to post on practice websites and can be printed or downloaded as PDFs. (Vet Advantage)
• Provectus Biopharmaceuticals announced it is moving into the companion animal health industry after securing funding from the State of Tennessee. The clinical-stage company is developing human immunotherapies based on small molecules called halogenated xanthenes to treat solid tumors. (IHS Markit Connect)
• Nationwide has expanded its partnership with Walmart to permit policyholders to fill their pet prescriptions at 566 Sam’s Club The move came three months after the pet health insurer introduced the Pet Rx Express program at 4,700 Walmart stores. (Todays Veterinary Business)
• The Dog Stop, a rapidly growing dog care franchise, announced Franvest Capital Partners is a new operational partner and investor. Currently, The Dog Stop has 20+ in 10 states; there are another 10+ locations currently under development. (Pet Age)
• Fit Pets for Rescues, an interactive pet-to-vet health diary, announced it is now Healthy Pet Connect, a subscription-based service available nationally, with a free app for pet parents and a free dashboard for veterinarians. Healthy Pet Connect leverages pet home health technology (scales, feeders & wearables) to document a pet’s weight, food intake, and exercise. (PRNewswire)
• Fear Free, LLC announced it will be offering the Fear Free Veterinary Certification Program-Equine, designed to educate veterinary professionals about the benefits of using Fear Free concepts during barn and hospital visits. (DVM360)
• Tractive announced that it has closed $35 million in growth funding led by Guidepost Growth Equity. The investment will accelerate innovation and adoption of the company’s industry-leading pet tracking device, which currently serves over 400,000 active subscribers across 175 countries. (Galvnews.com)
• South Korea’s largest trading company POSCO International, together with Canadian firm PlantForm and its South Korean subsidiary Bioapp, have partnered to bring a classical swine fever (CSF) vaccine to the North American market. The low-cost CSF vaccine was developed by Bioapp and received Korean approval in 2019. The firm is now licensing the product to the North and South American markets with the help of PlantForm and POSCO. (IHS Markit Connect)
• Because, Animals announced it has closed its seed stage financing round led by Orkla ASA, a European supplier of branded consumer goods. The closing of the heavily oversubscribed round brings the startup’s total financing to $6.7 million to date. With this investment, Because, Animals will scale up production, and accelerate development of its first commercial cultured meat pet product, a cat treat. Because, Animals claims it is the only biotech company growing cultured meat for dogs and cats. (Pet Age)
• EU Zoetis announced the EU launch of CircoMax Myco. According to the company, CircoMax Hyo is the first, and only, vaccine that includes two porcine circovirus type 2 (PCV2) genotypes (a & b), providing broader coverage against PCV2 and longest-lasting combined protection against PCV2 and Mycoplasma hyopneumoniae (M Hyo). CircoMax Myco comes in an easy to administer, ready to use single-dose combination with a duration of immunity (DOI) of 23 weeks against both PCV2 and M. Hyo. (Pig-World.co.uk)
• CANADA Modern Veterinary Therapeutics, LLC announced that the Canadian Veterinary Drugs Directorate (VDD) has approved Selavectine (selamectin topical solution) for use in dogs and cats in Canada. (company press release)
• EU TheraVet announced an initial public offering with a view to having its shares admitted to trading on Euronext Growth Brussels and Paris. The Offered Shares are no-par-value ordinary shares, to be paid up in full, and of the same class as the Existing Shares. (company press release)
• BRAZIL Nutreco subsidiary Trouw Nutrition announced the acquisition of Brazilian animal nutrition company Bigsal from an unnamed affiliate of HIG Capital. Bigsal operates in the regional market of northern Brazil, providing products for beef and dairy cattle, sheep, goats, horses, pigs, poultry, fish and dogs. Financial terms were not disclosed. (IHS Markit Connect)
• POLAND Creso Pharma Ltd announced it has signed a non-binding, non-exclusive Letter of Intent (LOI) with Polish company Polvet to progress a commercial agreement to market and distribute Creso’s cannabis-based animal health products for companion animals and livestock in Poland. (Proactiveinvestors.com)
• CANADA Vetster announced it has raised a total of C$12.25 million six months since launching its veterinary telemedicine service. The investment is led by Whitecap Venture Partners. The investment will be used to fuel the company’s growth and help to expand its preventative and urgent care services including the company’s new mobile app for iOS and Android coming in early June. (Business Wire)
• IRELAND Telenostic announced it is looking for distributors as it commercializes its artificial intelligence (AI)-backed point-of-care diagnosis platform for gastrointestinal parasites. The company believes its technology could address a particularly important unmet need in companion animals, where there is a prominent zoonotic risk. (IHS Markit Connect)

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ANIMAL HEALTH STOCK PRICE TRACKER

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ANIMAL HEALTH NEWS

• US – DRUG SHORTAGES The FDA added veterinary euthanasia drug pentobarbital to its drug shortage list this month, and the AVMA, the American Association of Equine Practitioners and the Companion Animal Euthanasia Training Academy are advising veterinarians to conserve supplies and consider alternatives. FDA’s Center for Veterinary Medicine is aware of the issue and has reached out to sponsors/manufacturers of pentobarbital products to determine the extent of the shortage and possible avenues for resolution. (AVMA SmartBrief)
• US – FDA GUIDANCE The FDA issued final guidance for industry (GFI) #171 entitled “Demonstrating Bioequivalence for Soluble Powder Oral Dosage Form Products and Type A Medicated Articles Containing Active Pharmaceutical Ingredients Considered To Be Soluble in Aqueous Media.”  The FDA received no comments on the draft guidance, which was issued in September 2019. The Agency made a minor change to the title of the guidance and other minor editorial changes to improve clarity. (FDA)
• WORLD – ONE HEALTH A new One Health High-Level Expert Panel has been launched to enable specialists in multiple sectors to address health threats and prevent disruption to agri-food systems. The panel will advise the FAO, the WHO, the OIE and the United Nations Environment Program on the development of a long-term global plan to avert outbreaks of zoonotic diseases. The panel aims to guide the establishment of a new research agenda and draw up evidence-based recommendations for global, regional, national and local action. The FAO noted three quarters of all emerging infectious diseases originate in animals. (IHS Markit Connect)
• WORLD – ONE HEALTH The OIE has identified three critical weaknesses to countries’ abilities to ward of the threat of emerging disease threats. At the 88th OIE General Session, the organization highlighted a lack of attention to wildlife health management, a deficiency in global capacity to manage disease emergencies and a paucity in the sustainability of diagnostic laboratory systems. The OIE has also now launched a strategy on aquatic animal health that it hopes will be a cornerstone to a more sustainable industry. (IHS Markit Connect)

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BRAKKE CONSULTING VIEWPOINT
Recently, I had the opportunity to visit my brother who I haven’t seen in 15 months as a result of the pandemic.  His dog has quite the life, doggy day care, human grade food, endless toys and a nice, comfortable king-sized bed to cuddle with his parent at night.  The epitome of the humanization of pets.

I was reading an article talking about the increase in discretionary income targeted toward our four-legged family members.  In the US, the AKC estimated that lifetime spend on a dog averaged ~$15,000 in the US in 2017.  Animal health companies and veterinarians are focused on increasing this lifetime spend through better medical care, early disease diagnosis and improved nutrition while technology companies are looking to capture the attention and share of wallet of consumers.

The article went on to say that a Brazilian pet store chain has developed an app that reads facial expressions dogs when shown images on a screen and can automatically upload a shopping basket so now your dog can choose its own toys and go right to the checkout.  Imagine what would happen if this was geared toward humans.  Flash an expensive sports car on my screen, gauge my reaction, put it in a shopping basket and boom, I have a new Porsche.  What’s next???

Randy Freides

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YOUR VIEW

In last week’s question we asked whether you will be attending in-person conferences and which conferences you plan to attend this coming summer or fall.  65% of the respondents said they would be attending a conference in person.  Of those who said they will attend a conference in-person, 13% responded that they will be attending VMX, 26% Western Veterinary Conference, 4% Fetch and 54% another industry conference.  It appears as though we are starting to return to professional gatherings as we emerge from the pandemic.

This week

If your dog were to utilize the app mentioned above, what would be the first thing they would buy?