Animal Health News & Notes for October 11, 2024

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Brakke Consulting’s
Animal Health News & Notes for October 11, 2024
Copyright © Brakke Consulting
Editor: Lynn Fondon DVM MBA
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IN THE NEWS:
Brakke Consulting News
Hiring Manager Survey

Earnings News
Neogen

Other News
AgroBiothers Laboratoire
AgroCares
CareCredit
Cargill
CowManager
Dairy One Cooperative
The Dairy Solutions Group
Datamars
DIG Labs
Elanco
iYOTAH Solutions
JBS
KW Hunde & Katteartikler
McDonald’s
Musti Group
MWI
National Beef Packing Company
Ollie
Performance Dairy Service
Pet City
Pets Best
Pulse Needle Free Systems
Standard Nutrition Company
Swift Beef Company
Synchrony
Trouw Nutrition
Tyson Foods
Vetlen Advanced Veterinary Devices
Vetology Innovations

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Brakke Search
US Managers – we want to hear from you!

Is finding the right talent becoming harder for your company? Brakke Search and Animal Health Jobs want your input on the hiring market.

The results will be shared for free in November with all participants, and your responses will remain anonymous. Help us gather insights by taking a short survey on hiring trends in the Animal Health Industry.

The first 50 qualified respondents who complete the survey will be entered to win a free job posting on Animal Health Jobs or admission to the Brakke Consulting Industry Overview at VMX or WVC 2025. Please take the survey only if you are the hiring manager for a US animal health company.

CLICK HERE to take the survey! Thank you for your time!

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EARNINGS NEWS RELEASES

• Neogen Corporation announced the results of the first quarter ended August 31, 2024. Revenues for the first quarter were $217 million, a decrease of 5% compared to the prior year quarter. Revenues for the Animal Safety segment were $57.6 million in the first quarter, a decrease of 8%. (company press release)

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COMPANY NEWS RELEASES

• Elanco Animal Health Incorporated announced the FDA has approved Credelio Quattro (lotilaner, moxidectin, praziquantel, and pyrantel chewable tablets) monthly oral parasiticide for dogs, with protection against six types of parasites: fleas, ticks, heartworms, roundworms, hookworms, and tapeworms. (company press release)
• Datamars announced it has acquired Pulse Needle Free Systems, Inc. Financial terms were not disclosed. (company press release)
• MWI announced that AllyDVM now offers a brand new online booking tool designed to simplify scheduling, and introduced PetPage Articles, which enables veterinary practices to provide pet owners with tailored educational content. (company press release)
• Vetlen Advanced Veterinary Devices announced the launch of Vetlen Pouch, a first-in-class veterinary delivery device for wound management in horses and dogs. Vetlen Pouch is designed to be implanted in surgical and/or wound sites to deliver daily localized, high-dose antibiotic therapy that can be changed as needed. When treatment is completed, veterinarians can simply remove the device like a surgical drain. (company press release)
• CowManager ear sensor system introduced new technology to help dairy producers work more efficiently and effectively. The new innovations include Lifetime Monitoring from Calf to Cow with a sensor lifetime warranty; Youngstock Monitor to track calves’ development periods; Sort my Cow sort gate that pairs ear sensor monitoring with smart sorting technology; and the new CowManager App. (company press release)
• Ollie, a subscription-based fresh dog food company, announced it has acquired DIG Labs, an AI-powered diagnostic company providing real-time, image-based pet health screenings across stool, weight management, skin and coat, dental care and more. Financial terms were not disclosed. (Pet Product News)
• Vetology Innovations, LLC announced an enhancement to its veterinary artificial intelligence (AI) radiology platform that automates the analysis of feline abdominal radiographs. (company press release)
• TDSG LLC, doing business as The Dairy Solutions Group – a subsidiary of Standard Nutrition Company – announced it has finalized an agreement to acquire Performance Dairy Service (PDS), a provider of dairy services and equipment in the California market. Financial terms were not disclosed. (Feedstuffs)
• Dairy One Cooperative and iYOTAH Solutions announced a strategic partnership that will empower dairy farmers with cutting-edge data visualizations, advanced analytics, and predictive tools for enhanced data management and decision-making. (Feedstuffs)
• AgroCares and Trouw Nutrition, Nutreco’s livestock feed business, announced the renewal of their NutriOpt On-site Adviser agreement, originally launched in 2018. (Feedstuffs)
• Synchrony announced the launch of a new payment experience for pet parents. For consumers who have both CareCredit and Pets Best pet insurance, this innovation connects the two solutions by directly reimbursing insurance claims to the CareCredit health and wellness credit card. (com)
• McDonald’s has filed a lawsuit in U.S. District Court against meatpackers Cargill, JBS, Swift Beef Company, National Beef Packing Company and Tyson Foods alleging they conspired to fix prices by limiting beef supplies since at least as early as 2015. (Feedstuffs)
• DENMARK France-based AgroBiothers Laboratoire announced it has acquired KW Hunde & Katteartikler A/S, Denmark’s leading pet care business. Financial terms were not disclosed. (globalpets)
• EUROPE Finnish pet retailer Musti Group announced it will acquire Estonian pet retailer and veterinary services provider Pet City from Magnum Group for EUR 18 million ($19.7M).  The acquisition will give Musti access to 46 retail stores and 16 veterinary clinics across Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania. In the financial year 2023, Pet City’s subsidiaries reported a combined turnover of EUR 31.5 million ($34.6M). (Globalpets)

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ANIMAL HEALTH STOCK PRICE TRACKER

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ANIMAL HEALTH NEWS

• US – VETERINARY WORKFORCE STUDY This week the American Veterinary Medical Association (AVMA) announced results of a major Workforce Study conducted by Brakke Consulting in collaboration with Cornell University’s Center for Veterinary Business and Entrepreneurship.  The study examined drivers of supply and demand for veterinary services and projected that the current 33 US colleges of veterinary medicine, combined with existing offshore schools, were adequate to meet demand for veterinarians to 2035. Click here to read the results. (association press release)
• US – ANTIMICROBIAL USE The FDA’s Center for Veterinary Medicine published the 2023 Summary Report on Antimicrobials Sold or Distributed for Use in Food-Producing Animals. The 2023 data indicate that U.S. sales and distribution of medically important antimicrobial drugs approved for use in food-producing animals decreased by 2% between 2022 and 2023; this represents a 37% decrease in sales since the sales peaked in 2015. The antimicrobial sales data do not necessarily reflect how much of the drugs are actually used in animals, only the volume that was sold. (FDA)
• US – PRACTICE CERTIFICATIONS The Veterinary Hospital Managers Association announced the launch of a new certification program for veterinary management professionals: the Certified Veterinary Office Manager (CVOM). The CVOM program is intended to certify qualified management professionals focused on fundamental administrative office tasks, including team leadership roles. (association press release)

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BRAKKE CONSULTING VIEWPOINT
Congratulations to AVMA for another outstanding Veterinary Business and Economic Forum!   This virtual event attracted more than 400 attendees, the most ever.  Keynote speakers included Dr. Adam Grant, organizational psychologist and best-selling author at the Wharton School, and Anders Sörman-Nilsson, global futurist and founder of Thinque.  Sörman-Nilsson is an expert on use of AI.  The AVMA also released a wealth of new data on pets, pet owners, veterinarians, veterinary practices and best practices.  The research shows that while client satisfaction with veterinary services is extremely high, the profession is experiencing a pull-back in patients, visits and revenue since the pandemic peak.

During the Forum I announced results of a new Workforce Study we just completed on behalf of AVMA.  We had the opportunity to collaborate with Dr. Matthew MacLachlan, an economist and expert in forecast modeling at Cornell’s Center for Veterinary Business and Entrepreneurship. Contrary to what you might have read elsewhere, we could find no evidence of the likelihood of a dire shortage of veterinarians in the next few years.  On the contrary, if 13 proposed new schools come onstream, it will take a significant uptick in pet ownership and/or demand for veterinary services to avoid a negative economic impact on the profession.  Over the last 15 years, the profession has experienced both soft and tight labor markets, and will again in the future.  But they’re episodic, not permanent.  The study has been submitted for publication and should be available in the next few weeks.

John Volk
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YOUR VIEW
Last week, we asked you to guess the 20-year historical average inflation rate for meats, poultry and fish. 35% of you said 3.3%; 27% said 2.5%; 20% said 4.1%; 11% said 5.0%; and 8% said 6.0%.

According to U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics Consumer Price Indexes (not seasonally adjusted) and forecasts by USDA Economic Research Service, the answer is 3.3%.

This week
This week we saw the approval of Elanco’s Credelio Quattro, the latest oral multi-parasite product for dogs.  How many FDA-approved pioneer products are there that include indications for both fleas and heartworms? (Let’s exclude generics.)