If you’d like to know what’s coming down the pike in the animal health world, look no farther than the Emerging Companies presentations in Kansas City, Missouri. The annual competition, which started in 2009, is a coming-out moment for startups introducing themselves to veterinarians, financiers and strategic partners.
Past winners of the Innovation Award include:
- Mazen Animal Health, a developer of oral vaccines for pets and farm animals, which has grown fast since its 2016 victory and a few months ago received an additional $11 million in investor funding.
- PupPod, whose interactive dog toy wowed the judges in 2017. The Seattle-based company earlier this year signed a licensing and international distribution agreement with Company of Animals for the PupPod Rocker and Feeder.
- Torigen Pharmaceuticals, whose experimental autologous cancer vaccine for pets captured the attention of MWI Animal Health. MWI and Torigen, the 2018 winner, signed a national distribution agreement in June.
That brings us to late August and the KC Animal Health Corridor’s latest Emerging Companies event, part of the two-day Animal Health Summit. Eleven innovators — eight from the United States, two from Canada and one from Australia — went onstage to promote their ready-for-market or still-under-development ideas. The candidates ranged from VetGuardian, the developer of a no-touch vital signs monitor for hospitalized patients, to Birds Eye Robotics, which is working on labor-saving technology for poultry producers.
In the end, the top honor went to Vidium Animal Health, a Phoenix company working to improve cancer diagnostics in dogs and cats. Its president and co-founder is veterinarian Dr. David Haworth, who earlier in his career held leadership positions with PetSmart Charities, Morris Animal Foundation and Pfizer Animal Health.
If history is any guide, check on Vidium Animal Health in a few years, if not sooner. Dr. Haworth and his company should generate many more headlines.