MA-ANIMOL-DISCOVERY
28.7.2022 13:09:06 CEST | Business Wire | Press release
Animol Discovery, Inc., a pioneer in veterinary pharmaceutical discovery, today announced it has raised $34.0 million in Series B financing. The investment was led by Novalis Lifesciences, with participation from Finistere Ventures and existing investor Anterra Capital. The proceeds allow the company to expand and advance its pipeline of novel active pharmaceutical ingredients through clinical development and further enhance its cutting-edge drug discovery platform.
The $40Bn animal health industry continues to demand novel medicines to treat infectious and chronic diseases in companion and production animals. Recent successes, such as Apoquel™ from Zoetis and Nexguard™ from Boehringer Ingelheim, demonstrate the potential to build towards blockbuster franchises in the sector with novel pharmaceutical products.
“Pet parents and livestock farmers continue to demand novel veterinary pharmaceuticals that can protect animals against diseases and improve quality of life,” said Andrew Plant PhD, chief executive officer, Animol Discovery. “Despite this strong demand, innovation is lagging. At Animol, we seek to address this innovation gap by leveraging the most advanced tools from human pharma to bring forward a wealth of new medicines that can benefit animals and the people who care for them.”
Founded in 2020 and incubated by Anterra Capital, Animol is pioneering the use of DNA Encoded Library (DEL) drug discovery technology coupled with powerful machine learning approaches to enable the rapid discovery of novel veterinary medicines.
“We have built Animol on the same cutting edge discovery techniques that we are using to disrupt drug discovery in human pharma (ZebiAI - acquired by Relay Therapeutics) and crop protection (Enko Chem),” said Philip Austin, Managing Partner at Anterra Capital. “Translating these tools to the massive opportunity available in veterinary pharma was the next obvious step and we are already seeing their use successfully build into a rich pipeline of promising compounds.”
Animol also announced that Marijn Dekkers PhD, founder & chairman of Novalis LifeSciences LLC will join the Board of Directors. Dr. Dekkers formerly served as the CEO of Bayer AG, and as the CEO of Thermo Fisher Scientific, Inc. At Bayer he oversaw one of the largest global animal health companies.
“Most current medicines in the $40B veterinary pharma market are derived from drugs that have been originally developed for humans. There is of course nothing wrong with that, but there are many animal-specific diseases that require a targeted effort. I like Animol Discovery’s approach to use its breakthrough drug discovery platform to specifically address significant unmet needs in animals. I am looking forward to working with the team to optimize the opportunity ahead,” said Dr. Dekkers.
“It is a great pleasure to be able to welcome Marijn Dekkers to our Board of Directors. Dr. Dekkers is an exceptional industry leader with a track record of turning innovation into successful businesses across the spectrum of life sciences, including in animal health,” said Andrew Plant PhD, chief executive officer, Animol Discovery. “He is an excellent addition to our team of experienced industry leaders.”
“I am also delighted to bring Doug Hutchens on board as chief scientific officer. Dr. Hutchens brings a wealth of industry experience in animal health research and product development; having someone who has also served as Chief Veterinary Officer within a major animal health company brings huge value to our expanding team,” added Dr. Plant.
“I am thrilled by the prospect of joining Animol’s dynamic and experienced team as chief scientific officer,” said Doug Hutchens, DVM, PhD. “The company’s ability to interrogate protein targets with billions of DNA-tagged molecules and, using DNA sequencing, identify selective inhibitors from numerous diverse chemical families is game changing in animal health drug discovery. Leveraging these data with proprietary, highly predictive machine learning algorithms, is enabling the identification of novel drug-like compounds in a matter of weeks from the initial DEL screen. This technology platform greatly expands the opportunities, significantly increases the probability, and accelerates the timeline in developing new classes of therapeutic molecules.”
About Animol
Animol is a pioneer in using state of the art drug discovery technology to discover small molecule active pharmaceutical ingredients to transform standards of care in veterinary medicine. The company is reducing the time and cost to discover novel active ingredients utilizing DNA-encoded libraries, machine learning/AI and structure-based design.
Animol is a private company based in Boston, Massachusetts. For more information see www.Animol-discovery.com
About Novalis LifeSciences LLC
Novalis LifeSciences LLC is an investment and advisory firm for the Life Science industry that was founded in 2017 by Marijn E. Dekkers. With a team of experienced operating executives from the Life Science industry, Novalis funds and advises visionary Life Science entrepreneurs. In addition to making financial investments, Novalis provides strategic and operational advice to portfolio companies that are at a critical growth stage in their development. For more information, visit www.novalislifesciences.com
View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20220728005186/en/
About Business Wire
Subscribe to releases from Business Wire
Subscribe to all the latest releases from Business Wire by registering your e-mail address below. You can unsubscribe at any time.
Latest releases from Business Wire
Enodia Therapeutics Strengthens Sec61 Portfolio Through Acquisition of Preclinical Assets from Kezar Life Sciences12.3.2026 14:00:00 CET | Press release
Transaction deepens insights into Sec61 selectivity for targeted protein degradation, supporting accelerated development of Enodia’s novel small-molecule inhibitors Enodia Therapeutics, a biotechnology company developing novel small-molecule therapies for targeted protein degradation at the point of synthesis, and Kezar Life Sciences, Inc. (Nasdaq: KZR), a clinical-stage biotechnology company developing novel small molecule therapeutics to treat unmet needs in immune-mediated diseases, today announced that Enodia has acquired Kezar’s assets from its Sec61-based discovery and development program. The acquisition enables Enodia to advance its understanding of Sec61 selectivity mechanisms, expanding biological and translational insights for faster progression toward key clinical milestones. This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20260312627573/en/ Under the terms of the purchase agreement between Enodia and Kezar, Kezar w
Adtran to showcase industry-leading open optical networking for the AI era at OFC 202612.3.2026 14:00:00 CET | Press release
News summary: Adtran will show how intelligent optical networks can scale infrastructure while controlling power, complexity and security risks Highlights include LiteWave800™, an ultra‑low‑power 800G pluggable transceiver, which sets a new 1pJ/bit benchmark for intra‑data center connectivity Adtran will participate in OIF multi‑vendor interoperability demos and present European‑led innovation through advanced research projects Adtran today announced that it will showcase its latest optical innovations at OFC 2026, taking place from March 15 to 19 in Los Angeles. The company will outline how intelligent, secure and power‑efficient optical networks are shaping the next phase of AI infrastructure. This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20260311958018/en/ Adtran’s optical networking technology is helping build the foundation for the AI era. At Adtran’s booth (1001), visitors can explore solutions spanning ultra‑low‑power
Wellesley Hills Financial Goes Global: New London and New York Hubs Signal Aggressive Expansion into Transatlantic Fintech M&A12.3.2026 13:00:00 CET | Press release
With the addition of industry veterans Barry Davis and Bill Shraga, WHF strengthens its cross-border capabilities and scales its specialized Merchant Portfolios platform to a national level. Wellesley Hills Financial (“WHF”), a premier fintech and payments-focused investment bank spanning the lower to upper middle market, today announced a series of senior appointments and geographic expansions that further scale its global advisory platform and deepens its capabilities across the payments and fintech ecosystems. The firm has appointed Barry Davis as Executive Advisor, based in London, added Managing Director Bill Shraga in New York, and expanded its payments consulting subsidiary, Merchant Portfolios (“MP”), with the addition of EVPs Lance McCord in North Carolina and Nolan Pittman in Arizona. Strengthening Transatlantic Connectivity Barry Davis joins WHF as the firm’s first London-based Executive Advisor, marking a significant milestone in WHF’s international expansion. His appointme
Prodalim Strengthens its Functional Platform to Enter the Fast-Growing Nutraceutical Market with the Acquisition of Sylvestre, a Market Leader in Botanical Extracts Based in Brazil12.3.2026 11:45:00 CET | Press release
The acquisition positions Prodalim to deepen its fast-growing functional beverage solutions offering, accelerate its expansion into the US functional ingredients market, and broaden its presence across emerging markets Prodalim, a global leader in juice and specialty ingredients solutions, announced today the acquisition of Sylvestre, a leading Brazilian producer of botanicals and functional extracts addressing the nutraceutical market. Sylvestre’s existing owners and management team will remain with the company and support its integration into Prodalim’s platform. This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20260312584318/en/ Founded in 1992 in Brazil, Sylvestre is a trusted supplier of high-quality natural ingredients, specializing in botanical extracts, fruit powders, superfruits, teas, and unique functional plant-based solutions sourced from the rich and diverse Brazilian flora. With a portfolio of more than 200 natural
Compass Pathways to Present at Stifel 2026 Virtual CNS Forum on March 18, 202612.3.2026 11:30:00 CET | Press release
Compass Pathways plc (Nasdaq: CMPS), a biotechnology company dedicated to accelerating patient access to evidence-based innovation in mental health, announced today that management will attend the Stifel 2026 Virtual CNS Forum, from March 17-18, 2026, and will participate in a fireside chat on March 18, 2026, at 10:30am ET. A live audio webcast of this event will be accessible from the “Events” page of the Investors section of the Compass website. A replay of the webcast will be accessible for 30 days following each event. About Compass Pathways Compass Pathways plc (Nasdaq: CMPS) is a biotechnology company dedicated to accelerating patient access to evidence-based innovation in mental health. We are motivated by the need to find better ways to help and empower people with serious mental health conditions who are not helped by existing treatments. We are pioneering a new paradigm for treating mental health conditions focused on rapid and durable responses through the development of our
In our pressroom you can read all our latest releases, find our press contacts, images, documents and other relevant information about us.
Visit our pressroom