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
KiddeFenwal Launches New Website and Information Hub8.7.2026 18:00:00 CEST | Press release
Enhanced digital platform reflects KiddeFenwal’s legacy, stature and growth trajectory in the fire suppression and safety controls industry KiddeFenwal, the global leader in the fire suppression and safety controls industry, today unveiled a revitalized website, designed to serve as a comprehensive information hub for fire industry practitioners and customers alike. The modernized platform includes features created specifically with the company’s global partners, OEMs and distributors in mind, including: Accelerated asset navigation, pointing users to critical safety documentation, design parameters and product specifications; Seamless solution mapping, helping users quickly locate fire suppression configurations by industry, from data centers to BESS applications to commercial kitchens; and Enhanced resource access, including streamlined pathways to connect with the company’s elite distributor network across 120 countries. It also provides information about the company’s three brands,
Dryad Networks Reaches XPRIZE Wildfire Finals Milestone, Demonstrating Autonomous Detection and Suppression of Wildfires in Alaska8.7.2026 17:00:00 CEST | Press release
Dryad Networks, the leader in ultra-early wildfire detection technology, today announced a major achievement in the finals of the Autonomous Wildfire Response track of XPRIZE Wildfire, a four-year, $11 million global competition accelerating new solutions to end destructive wildfires. This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20260707802818/en/ The Silvaguard Suppression Drone can deliver a 100 liter liquid suppressant to autonomously suppress small wildfires detected by Silvanet Competing against just two other finalists selected from an original field of nearly 300 teams worldwide, Dryad successfully demonstrated the integrated capabilities of its Silvanet wildfire detection network and Silvaguard autonomous firefighting drone system during final testing in remote Alaska. The XPRIZE Wildfire finals challenged teams to autonomously detect and suppress a wildfire without any human intervention across a vast 1,000 square k
Rigaku Opens "Rigaku Solutions Center Osaka" to Strengthen Global Semiconductor Metrology Service Capabilities8.7.2026 17:00:00 CEST | Press release
- Centralizing and Expanding Practical Training to Strengthen Global Service Capabilities - Rigaku Corporation, a global solution partner in X-ray analytical systems and a group company of Rigaku Holdings Corporation (headquarters: Akishima, Tokyo; CEO: Jun Kawakami; “Rigaku”), has opened the Rigaku Solutions Center Osaka (RSC-Osaka) at its Osaka Plant. The new facility centralizes and expands practical training for field service engineers supporting semiconductor metrology systems, strengthening Rigaku's global service capabilities. This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20260708402770/en/ Photo: Hands-on training using the TXRF-V310 at RSC-Osaka As semiconductor manufacturing processes continue to advance toward finer geometries, higher layer counts, and more complex three-dimensional structures, semiconductor metrology systems require ever greater precision and operational stability. X-ray analytical technologies pl
Cardiac Dimensions® Announces Three Major Publications Demonstrating Long-Term Durability, Real-World Performance, and Broad Patient Benefit of the Carillon Mitral Contour System®8.7.2026 16:05:00 CEST | Press release
New data highlight multi-center 5-year durability, 10-year survival, and the largest single-center experience across both HFrEF and HFpEF patients with functional mitral regurgitation Cardiac Dimensions, a leader in transcatheter therapies for heart failure, today announced the publication of three major manuscripts that together form the most comprehensive evidence base ever assembled for transcatheter indirect mitral annuloplasty. These publications span a five-year multi-center commercial registry, the largest single-center experience across both preserved and reduced ejection fraction, and long-term survival results through ten years. This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20260707656796/en/ Carillon Mitral Contour System® The Carillon Mitral Contour System is the only commercially available indirect mitral annuloplasty device, designed to treat a broad and expanding population of patients living with functional mi
First Randomized Controlled Trial Shows Promise of a Ketogenic Diet in Psychotic Disorders8.7.2026 15:00:00 CEST | Press release
Trial reports correlations between ketone levels and cognitive and psychiatric symptoms in individuals with schizophrenia-spectrum and bipolar-1 disorders Published today in Schizophrenia Bulletin, a first-of-its-kind randomized controlled trial (RCT) from researchers at the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF), and funded in part by the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH), adds to growing literature on the potential benefit of a ketogenic diet for treating psychotic disorders. The study, which enrolled participants with schizophrenia-spectrum or bipolar-1 disorders, demonstrated rapid metabolic improvements with a ketogenic diet compared to diet-as-usual during an initial one-month RCT open-label phase. Furthermore, those who continued with the optional four-month single-arm ketogenic diet extension saw meaningful gains across metabolic, psychiatric, and cognitive measures. This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.co
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