***********************************
Brakke Consulting’s
Animal Health News & Notes for October 17, 2025
Copyright © Brakke Consulting
Editor: Christine Merle DVM, MBA, CVPM
***********************************
IN THE NEWS:
Brakke Consulting
Brakke Search – QA expert
Earnings News
Nestle
Company News
Boehringer Ingelheim
Caravel Bio
Cencora
CDMV
Dechra (EU)
Diagonal Bio
Digitail(CA)
Grovet (EU)
Hill’s Pet Nutrition
Intervacc (EU)
Lighthouse Pharmaceuticals
MI: RNA
NextPharma (EU)
PetVivo Animal Health
Phagos
Phibro Animal Health
Seppic
Veterinary Growth Partners
Virbac (EU)
Zoetis (CA)
Zoetis (EU)
Zomedica (EU)
Animal Health News
Canada
United Kingdom
United States
***********************************
Brakke Search
QA Career Opportunity
Are you a QA expert with FDA and/or USDA experience or do you know someone who is? Do you flourish in a small, informal environment where you roll up your sleeves on groundbreaking new projects in a brand new, state of the art facility? Are you attracted to an up-and-coming company that offers a competitive compensation package including equity, and a comfortable but focused work environment? If so, we’d like to talk to you! Our client is hiring now. This is an onsite position located in Shreveport, LA, a great way to make an impact in the company and industry. For more information, contact Jeff Santosuosso.
***********************************
Earnings News Releases
- Nestle reported its nine-month sales for 2025 of CHF 65.9 billion ($82.83 billion) which was a decrease of 1.9% over previous year, mostly due to foreign exchange movements having a negative impact. PetCare growth was positive, driven by Latin America while North America was essentially flat. (nestle.com)
***********************************
Company News Releases
- The establishment of the Boehringer Ingelheim Cares Foundation Animal Health Program was announced providing over $2.5 million over three years to 3 critical challenges facing the veterinary profession: veterinary wellbeing, pipeline of future veterinarians and access to veterinary care. (company press release)
- Rauf Gurbuz has been promoted to US President, General Manager, for Hill’s Pet Nutrition, a division of Colgate-Palmolive. He succeeds Yvonne Hsu who was recently named President of Hill’s global. (petage.com)
- A licensing agreement between Lighthouse Pharmaceuticals and Phibro Animal Health for a novel therapeutic compound targeting periodontal health in companion animals was announced. (investors.pahc.com)
- A vendor partner agreement between PetVivo Animal Health, a biomedical device company, and Veterinary Growth Partners, a management services organization, has been formed. (finance.yahoo.com)
- Sweden based, Diagonal Bio, a point of care testing system for genetic markers that detect pathogens such as viruses, bacteria and fungi has revamped its website to reflect their commercial focus on the Animal Health market. (tradingview.com)
- $30 million in Series A funding was obtained by Phagos, a biotechnology company pioneering phage therapy as an alternative to antibiotics, the funding will enable scaling of its veterinary phage therapy solutions. (igrownews.com)
- Funding from Scottish Enterprise will support the research and development of MI:RNA, a veterinary diagnostic company, to create a non-invasive test that would utilize AI and a biological marker to diagnose Osteoarthritis (OA) earlier and more cost effectively. (scottish-enterprise-mediacentre.com)
- Caravel Bio, a integrated platform for protein discovery and delivery, secured a $7.8million National Science Foundation grant in collaboration with Avery Bio, Caltech, Rutgers University and Oregon State University. The funding supports the creation of novel proteins that can be generated and analyzed in parallel to optimize them. (hitconsultant.net)
- Seppic has launched Sepifriend, a line of 11 ingredients designed to meet formulator’s needs across pet hygiene, care and supplementation to address common skin and coat issues in dogs. ( cosmeticsbusiness.com)
- CA and EU-Zoetis received Health Canada approval and a positive opinion from the European Medicines Agency Committee for Veterinary Medicinal Products for its Lenivia (izenivetmab) for the reduction of pain associated with osteoarthritis (OA) in dogs for 3 months with one injection. (investor.zoetis.com)
- CA- A partnership between Digitail, a veterinary practice information management system (PIMS), and CDMV, a Canadian distributor and service provider, offers a new integration that allow Digitail user to import product catalogs and real time pricing directly into Digitail unifying purchasing, inventory, treatment plan and billing into a single workflow. (Morningstar.com)
- EU-Dechra and Intervacc have extended their distribution agreement for the equine strangles vaccine. (healthcap.eu)
- EU- Virbac is expanding the availability of its next generation parasite protection collar for cats and dogs, protecting for up to 8 months. (marketscreener.com)
- EU- Nextpharma is selling their European logistics arm to Cencora to focus on being Europe’s pure play pharmaceutical contract development and manufacturing organization. (company press release)
- EU- Grovet’s , a Netherlands based equine health company, distribution agreement with Zomedica has been expanded to include diagnostic and therapeutic device products across the European Union. (webdisclosure.com)
***********************************
Animal Health Stock Price Tracker
***********************************
Animal Health News
- US- CALIFORNIA- Governor Newsom signed a bill that bans veterinarians from declawing cats. In addition, he signed another bill that permit Registered Veterinary Technicians to conduct vaccine and parasite control wellness appointments in animal shelter as long as a veterinarian is available by phone.( sfgate.com and goldrushcam.com)
- US- UC DAVIS- An updated version of the DiseaseBioportal, an online platform integrating diagnostic and field data from multiple sources in real time, is now available allowing for improved outbreak detection and better farm management strategies. It was developed at the University of California, Davis School of Veterinary Medicine and the expansion was supported by the National Science Foundation Convergence Accelerator and National Institute of Food and Agriculture. (feedstuffs.com)
- US- PET FOOD INSTITUTE- Dana Brooks, CEO of the Pet Food Institute will step down from her role as CEO in April 2016. An executive search firm has been engaged to identify her successor. (petfoodindustry.com)
- US- FEDERAL TRADE COMMISSION- The Federal Trade Commission has formally abandoned its April 2024 rule banning most post-employment noncompete clauses. The rule had been effectively blocked by a federal judge in Texas in August 2024. The agency will enforce restrictions on a case-by-case basis. (todaysveterinarybusiness.com)
- CA-BRITISH COLUMBIA- $496 million (US$353.3) from the province government will be used to build a new plant and animal health center in Abbotsford. (ca.finance.yahoo.com)
- UK-VETERINARY REFORMS- The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) published the findings and recommendations of a 2-year review and investigation process of the UK veterinary sector. They are proposing 21 recommendations including publication of price lists, clear statements of practice ownership and a new Veterinary Surgeons Act with updated regulations. (vettimes.com)
************************************
Brakke Consulting Viewpoint
Expanding the horizon for veterinary services revenue and product sales
It was not that long ago when some in our industry were claiming that we had too many veterinarians and that the ROI on pursuing a DVM or becoming a Veterinary Technician did not provide a reasonable return. How things have changed!
There are many reasons behind the ‘turnaround’ but clearly a driver was the increasing demand for veterinary care for pets and livestock. And the positive pressure comes in many forms: change of lifestyle for practicing veterinarians, influx of corporate veterinary practice ownership, high demand for specialized food animal practitioners (i.e. Poultry veterinarians).
We know that many people simply cannot afford certain services- nor do they have the ability to purchase necessary drugs for controlling disease or parasites. In the industry, we recognize that we reach saturation points(for example with flea and tick treatments) and as a result, simply battle it out for share.
Recently states are looking at allowing veterinary technicians or other new roles (midlevel veterinary practitioner) to expand their scope of practice acting more as a ‘Physicians Assistant’- like in human medicine. Will this bring down costs and extend care?
Would national licensing for veterinarians and veterinary technicians or decreased cost and time for foreign veterinary graduates to achieve licensure increase supply and service?
Lastly, should we be more aggressive in the development and registration of generic drugs? Reducing costs and increasing affordability?
In my view, we as an industry- along with the profession, need to think strategically together about how to expand the market for both veterinary service and product sales. It will certainly benefit all!
Paul Casady
***********************************
Your View
Last week, we asked how much longer you thought the government shutdown would last. The majority (36%) believe it will end with October. While some thought Thanksgiving (28%) or 2 weeks (27%) were more likely. The remaining were confident that it would end by tomorrow. We still have a few more hours to find out if they are right.
English 
Portuguese 
Japanese 
Chinese