Mars makes (another) acquisition

April 09, 2023

Hello 👋 Happy Easter and Happy Passover to those who celebrate!It's a holiday edition of Weekend Rounds, so you can get caught up on your veterinary news and then back to stuffing your face with chocolate mini eggs even quicker.Here's what's on the easter egg hunt today:🤝 Mars buys Heska🖥️ The Times covers veterinary telemedicine🧪 FDA's new regulations take effect🚀 Quick hits

If I had a billion dollars...

Mars is adding yet another feather to its cap of animal care businesses with a $1.3B (that's billion, with a capital B) acquisition of Heska Corp. Heska, known for its diagnostic imaging equipment (cuattro) and their suite of in-house analyzers (element) gives Mars another piece of the diagnostic vertical, along with their previous acquisitions of Antech Diagnostics, Wisdom Panel and Anicura. Mars will pay $120 per share to Heska's shareholders, which is a 22.9% premium over its last close. The deal is expected to close in the second half of 2023. 

While it's just one more acquisition for Mars, it's big news for the veterinary profession. VCA, BluePearl and other Mars entities will soon be intertwined with Heska products likely changing the in-clinic landscape.   

The New York Times Effect on Vet Med

This week, the New York Times took a good look at veterinary telemedicine. While nothing in the article is particularly groundbreaking, especially for us - the veterinarians on the front-lines that they are reporting on - it is interesting that the Times is covering it at all. Some of the main takeaways were:

  • Uptake in telemedicine is slow: in one new survey of more than 1,200 American cat owners, 72% reported using telemedicine for themselves, compared to just 3% who had used it for their felines.

  • The pandemic accelerated the readiness and adoption as states loosened restrictions on veterinary telemedicine. The share of clinics offering remote video appointments rose to 30% (up from 4% pre-pandemic).

  •  Many organizations are seeing how telemedicine can be useful - especially for rural pet owners who may live hours from an animal clinic, or for those who cannot afford to take time off from work for a midday appointment.

  • Virtual care can be a much kinder to pets who may stress out at the vet. 

Thankfully, the article does address some of the downsides as well:

  • Pet parents don't always feel like they have been heard or their pet's problem has been properly addressed.

  • We're relying on a human to relay symptoms to vets, instead of the trained professionals identifying the symptoms and causes.

  • The loosening of restrictions over the pandemic has created a patchwork of state and federal laws. For example, some states require vets to perform a physical examination first, while others do not. For whatever it's worth, the AVMA favors legislation that limits telemedicine to pet owners and veterinarians with a pre-existing relationship. 

For those of us living this reality every day, the article likely didn't bring forward anything we hadn't already thought about. But it's interested to see the Times cover it, and it will be interesting to see if increased media attention in some of the largest publications changes public opinion or regulations. How do you feel about the shift toward telemedicine? Let us know by replying to this email!

PS. If you caught the reference in this section's title, we hope it made you smile. If not, you need to brush up on your Bee Gees.

New Regs, Who Dis? 

New FDA guidance on bulk active pharmaceutical ingredients in compounded veterinary preparations is being enforced this month, impacting veterinarians who rely on compounding to customize medication.The new regulations require more documentation and restricts the stocking of most compounded preparations made from bulk ingredients - meaning vets will only be prescribe for individual patients on an as-needed basis. Since so many vets were not prepared for the new regulations, the FDA pushed back it's roll out by six months, but on April 1st that grace period ended. The FDA is in the process of identifying the preparations compounded from bulk drug substances that you may order for office stock, and which ones you may only prescribe for individual patients. It may be worth while to keep an eye on three lists:

  • APPROVED - Medications that may be ordered for office stock

  • UNDER REVIEW - Those that the FDA is still reviewing

  • PROHIBITED - Medications that may not be used as office stock (they call it an 'unlisted' list, but that's unnecessarily confusing)

As VIN reported, this has major impact on clinics everywhere and veterinarians should provide case examples to the FDA on why maintaining access to compounded medications for office use is critical for patient care. 

Quick Hits

Here are some stories we're following this week from around the veterinary world and animal kingdom:Podcast: What's going on with xylazine becoming a street drug [Vet Blast] 

AVMF donates to Turkey, Syria to aid earthquake relief [AVMA]

Long-Lost Letter Shows That Einstein Predicted That Animals Had 'Super Senses' [Science Alert]