September 7, 2024 • 27 mins
Todd Zion, founder and CEO of Akston Biosciences provides keen insights on the explosion of pet and companion animals ownership in the United States and the corresponding focus on keeping them healthy through new medicines and immunotherapies.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:03):
Welcome back to What's at Risk. I'm Mike Christian Todd
Zion is co founder, president, and CEO of Axton Biosciences.
He has been instrumental in developing the company's key partnerships
(00:24):
around the world. Previously, Todd was president and CEO of
Smart Cells from its founding in two thousand and three
through its sale to Merk in twenty ten. Tod has
received more than forty patents while at MIT, Smart Cells
and Axton Biosciences. Here in a PhD in Chemical engineering
(00:46):
at MIT and graduated from Cornell University summa cum laude
with a Bachelor in Science and Chemical Engineering. Our guest
is Todd Zeon, founder and CEO of Exton Biosciences, located
in Beverly, Massachusetts.
Speaker 2 (01:05):
Todd, how you doing doing well?
Speaker 3 (01:06):
Mike?
Speaker 4 (01:07):
Thanks for having.
Speaker 1 (01:07):
Me, Thank you for joining us. Maybe a good place
to start us to tell our listeners a little bit
about your background.
Speaker 3 (01:13):
Well, professionally, I'm a chemical engineer by training. I did
my undergraduate work back at Cornell University in the nineties
and worked for a couple of years at a company
called Liasman Kodak, and I learned a lot about material
science and polymer engineering there, worked there for a couple
of years and then did my PhD also in chemical
(01:36):
engineering at MIT, and that's what really brought me to
the New England and Massachusetts area, and that was in
the fall of ninety nine, And while I was there,
I got bitten by the entrepreneurship bug, which runs pretty
hot in the Cambridge area and certainly at MIT, and
started a company actually based on my research there, was
(02:00):
called Smart Cells, and we were at that time trying
to develop what we called a smart insulin, so basically
an insulin that knew when it should turn itself on,
for example, after you've had a meal, and maybe even
more importantly, would turn itself off when your blood sugar
dropped back to normal to avoid those dangerous lows that
(02:23):
people can experience with insulin. And so we started that
company two thousand and four, got it off the ground,
went through some ups and downs and near death experiences,
and Merk ended up acquiring that in twenty ten, and
after a brief stint there, my team and I founded
Exton Biosciences, which is the company that I currently preside
(02:45):
over as CEO.
Speaker 1 (02:47):
Now, you had a significant success with Smart Cells and
many people, maybe most people would have rested on their laurels,
but not you. What prompted you to start another biotech
company so quickly after having that big success with smart sales.
Speaker 4 (03:02):
It's a great question.
Speaker 3 (03:03):
I think foolishness certainly factors in, and maybe a little.
Speaker 4 (03:07):
Naivete, but also you know, when.
Speaker 3 (03:10):
That happened, I was in my mid thirties, and I
think we felt we left a lot of ideas and
energy on the table. The team had more to give,
and so it started out kind of gradual.
Speaker 4 (03:23):
We didn't know.
Speaker 3 (03:24):
Exactly what we wanted to do, but we knew we
wanted to work together, and Mark had really bought everything.
So the first order of business was just getting another
lab going and just kind of you know, dusting off
the cobwebs and starting to do research again. And so
that's really kind of how we got into it, and
you know, we've certainly pivoted a few times since then
(03:45):
to our current focus. It's the excitement of coming in
every day and knowing that you're going to exercise that creativity.
Sometimes it's solving problems that you'd rather not have. Other
times it's really just you know, looking at new data,
coming out of experiments and thinking about new medicines, which
has really been the heart of what we've been doing
(04:07):
for gosh, the last couple decades.
Speaker 1 (04:09):
Now now with your current company, Axton, you did focus
a bit in the beginning also on diabetes.
Speaker 2 (04:17):
As am I correct about that you are.
Speaker 3 (04:19):
Yeah, As you might know, in our field, patents and
intellectual property really dominate. So oftentimes medicines take years, a
decade even or more to develop, and so we do
really rely on the fact that once we've invented it,
we get some protection through patents. We had to be
careful in those early days. We did sell a lot
(04:42):
of all of our intellectual property at the time to
Mark but ultimately we did find another way to make
advances in diabetes, and this time was focusing in on
the idea of keeping the insulin so that it would
last a lot longer. So instead of repe bonding very
quickly on demand, we wanted to provide a very flat profile,
(05:04):
not just for a day, but over the course of
a week. And if you know anyone who has diabetes,
you know that whether they're pumping it and constantly worrying
about the pump rate or taking injections, it really does
involve active administration multiple times a day, so really kind
of easing that burden and getting to a long acting
(05:26):
insulin is where we kind of settled for a good portion,
and it was through that actually that we got interested
in veterinary health. Obviously, we know diabetes is having quite
an impact health wise on our human population, both type
one and type two diabetes, but it actually affects our
pets as well. Both dogs and cats get diabetes, and
(05:49):
so thinking about ways in which we could kind of
take the risk out of developing this drug for people,
we thought, geez, why don't we develop versions for dogs
and cats and create a market opportunity there for us,
but also learn a lot about how this can work
in the real world.
Speaker 1 (06:07):
Now, the dogs and cats often referred to as companion animals,
and they include cats and dogs and birds and horses
and guinea pigs, and that all the types of animals
that people keep as pets. And according to a twenty
twenty two National Pet Owners Survey, over seventy percent of
all US households include a companion animal, which seemed crazy
(06:28):
to me. I didn't really realize the number was that high.
What do you think has prompted that incredible growth in
people owning pets.
Speaker 3 (06:35):
There are a number of factors, you know, and just
put numbers on it. So when you think about that
high percentage of households and many of them have more
than one pet, you're talking about over eighty million dogs
in the US and over sixty million cats in the US.
Speaker 4 (06:52):
So the numbers are quite staggering.
Speaker 3 (06:54):
And of course, if anyone goes out to the local
park these days, I'm sure you will see lots of
our four legged friends on leashes. And so I think
your own direct experience really does confirm these numbers. I
think a lot of it does come with increased affluence
and the ability to kind of have families spread their
(07:17):
resources through another way to connect. I think also the
younger generation I know this from my kids who are
in their twenties, absolutely love the idea of having pets
and maybe even almost as a replacement for more serious
relationships or having kids. And so there's an explosion there.
(07:41):
And then of course we can't discount recently the effect
that COVID and the lockdown had, which there really was
you know, sort of pandemic puppies or pandemic pets and
there were a lot of people that went out and
really did that and have learned the joys of ownership
in the last a few years or.
Speaker 1 (07:59):
So from grand View Research, The global companion animal health
market size was estimated at twenty three point eight billion
in twenty twenty three and is projected to grow at
a compound annual rate of over nine percent from twenty
twenty four to twenty thirty owing to increasing pet ownership rates,
(08:24):
rise of pet insurance, growing preference for personalized pet care,
and advancement in animal healthcare technology. More than fifty percent
of the world's population is estimated to own a pet
at home. Advancements in animal health care technology, such as
the development of new diagnostic tools, treatments, and vaccines, have
(08:48):
further propelled the market growth. These technological advancements not only
enhance the quality of care provided to companion animals, but
also contribute to improved outcome and overall patient satisfaction. In addition,
worldwide pet insurance acceptance rates have risen as a result
(09:08):
of the increasing pet humanization and pet ownership in various countries.
According to the North American Pet Health Insurance Association, the
total number of insured pets increased by over seventeen percent
compared to the previous year. So that growth in pet
(09:30):
ownership has sparked a revolution in animal health in terms
of a focus on animal health, and I think Accident
is taking advantage of that. Has the focus on animal
health changed dramatically over the last few years to create
this opportunity. I mean, I know there's a growth in
companion animals, obviously you just talked about that, but it
(09:52):
just seems like there's been also an exponentially greater growth
in the focus on animal health.
Speaker 3 (09:59):
You think that's right, it's correct, and the and and
really the numbers bear that out. I would say I
would take it in a few ways. So first of all,
is on the demand side. I think that people, as
they've taken their pets in and really treated them like
another family member, has created a demand for their care,
(10:21):
which which is really more sort of intense than it
than it's been, you know, certainly than the previous generation.
Speaker 4 (10:30):
So I'll give you an example.
Speaker 3 (10:32):
I mean, you know, I think that uh, pets that
have been diagnosed with cancer, for example, oftentimes the solution
would be unfortunately euthanasia, where they would you know, put
the animal down as as the humane alternative. Now people
are seeking out ways in which I can lessen the
suffering and and and really keep my animal going and healthy.
(10:57):
And so I think that's on the demand side, and
of course on the supply side, I think is just
really animal health benefits tremendously from advances in all of health,
including human health.
Speaker 4 (11:12):
So as this.
Speaker 3 (11:13):
Explosion in new medicines, biologics, antibodies, for example, and if
you turn on your TV you can see advertisements for
a key truda or hum.
Speaker 4 (11:24):
Era or others.
Speaker 3 (11:26):
This is a class of medicine that really twenty five
years ago wasn't prevalent in human health, and since that
time it has shown its ability to treat previously untreated diseases.
And so really we're starting to see that being applied
(11:46):
now to animal health to sort of meet that demand,
that growing demand for better care. And interestingly, Axton finds
itself right at the nexus of this, because well, for
the longest time we've been working with protein medicines like
insulin and other things for human health, and when we
(12:08):
realize just how much of an impact we could make
on animal health, albeit starting with diabetes, we realize, wow,
there's a real opportunity here to really get in much
earlier in what we were sort of calling this revolution
of veterinary health, and it's an exciting time for sure.
Speaker 1 (12:29):
Now for us non experts in this area. What is
the approach that Axton takes in the biologics and the
development of new therapies for animals.
Speaker 3 (12:40):
We have a technology platform that we've developed over the years,
and to really put it at a high level, we
can do two things very well using pretty much the
same technology platform. The first thing is is that we
can make these protein medicines last a lot longer. People
(13:01):
ask this often, why do some medicines have to be injected?
Why why can't every medicine be taken as a pill
or inhaled, And it turns out that protein based medicines,
So think of insulin or growth hormone or antibodies as
I had mentioned, Well, obviously they get digested as you
(13:23):
put them through the stomach and the intestine, and so
they lose their entire structure and can't perform. So that
really the only way to get them efficiently into the
body is to bypass.
Speaker 4 (13:35):
That, and that's usually by injection.
Speaker 3 (13:37):
So what we're trying to do is make sure that
they last a lot longer so that you can cut
down on the number of injections. And so that's on
one end, and then on the other end is we
can get the animals to produce their own medicines against
particular targets, So we can actually get them to make
(13:58):
their own antibodies against target gets, taking advantage of some
of the technology we developed over the COVID pandemic, sort
of a vaccine approach, but against targets that are related
to diseases like chronic pain or dermatitis or these other things. So, yeah,
it's an interesting approach, and it's one that really targets
(14:20):
effectiveness and convenience while keeping the costs down low. And
all those things are important for any medicine, but really
for vetinary health it's really important.
Speaker 1 (14:31):
And it makes it more cost effective for those of
us that own pets.
Speaker 3 (14:35):
Yeah, for sure cuts down on the number of visits
to the vet for sure. Oftentimes the outcomes for the
animals are better, So the sort of the secondary visits,
the long term healthcare is better for the animals. And oftentimes,
for example, in some of our therapeutics for cancer, they're
actually much less expensive than say the surgery type alternatives
(15:01):
that are out there.
Speaker 1 (15:02):
For sure, when you talk about your platform, you can
invent or develop drugs that can address not only diabetes,
but other types of diseases too. For animals and you
mentioned cats or what else would be included.
Speaker 3 (15:16):
Yeah, So we have a sort of we call it
ozebic for cats.
Speaker 4 (15:21):
It treats obesity.
Speaker 3 (15:24):
You know, some people are okay with their cats that way,
but certainly others feel like they could shed a pound
or two. So it works a lot like ozebic does
in people. But this is another thing about when you're
developing these kinds of proteins for pets, you can't take
(15:44):
the human version and just put it into your pat
This is really important to point out. So these proteins
that we're talking about, they will interact, they will cause
the pets immune system to react against it if it's
design for humans. So a human protein doesn't do well
in dogs and cats, and even a dog protein doesn't
(16:07):
do very well in cats and vice versa. So you
have to really pay attention and that you know, our
platform allows us to kind of adapt things quite readily
from human health to animal health. So yes, obesity, cancer,
we also have something for chronic pain, which generally happens
when the animals get osterearthritis, and there's a drug out
(16:30):
there now called the Librella, which is actually an antibody,
and it's.
Speaker 4 (16:34):
Working incredibly well.
Speaker 3 (16:35):
It's quite expensive and one of the problems you got
to go into your vet every month to get an infusion.
So we've got sort of a vaccine that we're developing
that would keep it down to once every six months
or maybe even once a year, playing off on this
convenience factor. And then another is atopic dermatitis. And so
this is you know, I think, okay, well, it's just
(16:58):
animals itching, but if you've ever had a dog or
a cat that gets this sort of condition, they will
scratch to the point where they will open up a wound,
and oftentimes that gets infected and can cause some serious problems.
So those are just to name a few areas that
we're currently working in.
Speaker 1 (17:17):
What's the size of the of the animal health market
just sort of a ballpark.
Speaker 3 (17:22):
Yeah, So the overall animal health is I don't have
the full number, but for Companion Animal Health it's about
twenty five billion dollars a year, which is certainly smaller.
Speaker 4 (17:35):
Than what you would.
Speaker 3 (17:36):
You know, obviously, human pharmaceutical business and market is an
order of magnitude or more larger, but it's not an
insignificant market, and it is growing rapidly each year, I
think with a KAGAR of over a ten percent, so.
Speaker 4 (17:52):
You know it's large and growing.
Speaker 3 (17:54):
Traditionally, veterinary health, say even going back a decade ago,
was really leveraging drugs that were already developed for human
health and then just get repurposed for veterinary health. I
think now that innovation is coming to it, you're going
to see really an explosion and interest as well as
(18:16):
investment as people see this opportunity to bring better health
to companion.
Speaker 1 (18:22):
Animals and for our listeners. They would be able to
as these drugs get introduced and distributed, they would be
able to access them for their pets through their local veterinary.
Speaker 4 (18:34):
That's right.
Speaker 3 (18:35):
That is the current way almost all veterinary medicines are
made available. You know, the industry is starting to evaluate
more direct consumer methods. I think that that's still in
its early days. So yes, you would go to your veterinarian.
They would they would have a supply, they would prescribe
(18:56):
it and sell it there now.
Speaker 1 (18:59):
Exton and Purdue University recently announced a strategic partnership to
treat cancer and ducks. That sounds pretty exciting for XT and.
Speaker 4 (19:08):
It is a little bit sure.
Speaker 3 (19:10):
You know, in cancer therapy, probably the most impactful development
over the last say fifteen years or so has been
in these immune checkpoint inhibitors they're called, which is maybe
just to kind of explain it at high level. So,
(19:31):
cancers are rapidly dividing cells in our bodies and would
normally alert our immune systems to their presence, and our
immune systems would be very well adapted to get rid
of them before they ever took a foothold. But obviously
cancers have evolved to outsmart that, and one of the
(19:55):
ways they do it is through the expression of particular
proteins on their surface that trick the immune system into.
Speaker 4 (20:05):
Into letting it go by.
Speaker 3 (20:07):
And so these are out on the market now for
human cancers, and they've they've shown incredible promise and it's
really time for us to bring those to veterinary health.
And so the team at Purdue had been working on
a dog version of one of these and have some
(20:27):
really incredible research on it, and they were in a
position where they were well funded. They want to run studies,
initially in bladder cancer for dogs, which is very difficult
to treat. It is likely to be treatable with this method,
but they needed someone to help make a large amount
of material under specific quality conditions so that they could
(20:51):
actually run the study.
Speaker 4 (20:53):
And from the early days it acts.
Speaker 3 (20:55):
And we've invested not just in our technology but also
in our manufacturing capabilities, and so when we met up,
they realized, we realized that there was this synergy here
where they had again a protein based technology that's not
too dissimilar from what we're developing on our own, but
we had these capabilities to really help them out. And
(21:18):
so that brought us together in this partnership arrangement where
we have an exclusive option to license and we're supplying
them with the material they need to run this exciting study.
So it's another example of how you can innovate in
this space, and I think how companies like ours can
step in and fill a very important unmet need.
Speaker 1 (21:42):
Yeah, well, it's very validating to have a partner like
Purdue University for sure.
Speaker 3 (21:47):
For sure, and they and their veterinary school obviously is
one of the top in the world and also their
cancer research as well, and so it's it's been really
really great and we it informs back on some of
the research we're doing as well, So yeah, we're super
excited about that.
Speaker 1 (22:05):
So it sounds like Axton is really poised to take
a big leap forward here in the animal health arena.
Speaker 4 (22:11):
We really hope.
Speaker 3 (22:12):
So you know, I think we've certainly got the technical expertise.
I think we have the in house capabilities as well,
and we've got a good pipeline. So one of the challenges,
of course, is that the field is moving so rapidly
that some of the investment infrastructure hasn't caught up to
(22:32):
it yet. So some of the investment infrastructure is thinking
more about animal health and venory health from ten years
ago and not maybe looking forward to what can really
happen over the next five to ten years with some
of these innovations. But I'd rather be ahead of our
time than behind and we'll work through all that of course.
Speaker 1 (22:55):
For our listeners that own animals, and does this all
translate to healthier and obviously healthier animals hopefully animals that
have a longer lifespan too, Yes, for sure.
Speaker 3 (23:08):
I mean, I think that when you look at well diabetes,
for example, which we develop and just recently was sold
to a company called Decra, Obviously, within gosh, I mean
within the first year of diagnosis oftentimes it was you know,
thirty percent or so the animals were euthanized. And some
(23:30):
of that is due to obviously impact on the owner
and burden, but also just the health considerations. And so
we want to obviously extend that life span and reduce
the number of parents that are opting for euthanasia.
Speaker 4 (23:45):
And I think when you look.
Speaker 3 (23:46):
At things like chronic pain, cancer, you're just going it's
going to contribute to longer and.
Speaker 4 (23:52):
We hope more well lived years.
Speaker 3 (23:56):
You know, we're not just looking just prolong life, but
I think quality.
Speaker 4 (23:59):
Of life as well.
Speaker 2 (24:00):
Yeah, that's great, Mike.
Speaker 3 (24:01):
You know I want to point out is that some
of this will feedback onto human health. So you know,
I think that while yes, in some cases we're letting
human health inform on vetinary health, what's really exciting for
us is that as we innovate in veterinary health, we
hope to then bring things back to human health by
(24:22):
so called humanizing some of these therapies and getting them
licensed out to the pharmaceutical industry. So I think that
there's a synergy there as well that could eventually contribute
to benefits in human health.
Speaker 2 (24:34):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (24:34):
So that's interesting because usually it would go the other
way around, right up to sure till now.
Speaker 4 (24:39):
Up till now.
Speaker 3 (24:40):
But I think there is this opportunity to take advantage
of innovation in venory health and let it feed back
into human health.
Speaker 1 (24:47):
Well, we've been speaking with Todd Xeon, founder and CEO
of x and Biosciences. Todd, thank you so much. It
was very informative discussion. Appreciate your insights.
Speaker 4 (24:56):
You're welcome, Mike, thanks for having me.
Speaker 1 (25:08):
Well that's all for this week. I'm Mike Christian inviting
you to join us again next week on What's at Risk.
Also check out our podcast at Wbznewsradio dot iHeart dot com.
Speaker 2 (25:24):
What's on your Mind?
Speaker 1 (25:25):
Send us your thoughts, comments and questions to What's at
Risk at gmail dot com. That's one word, What's at
Risk at gmail dot com. Thank you, A big thank
you to our producer, Ken Carberry of Chart Productions.
Speaker 2 (26:08):
It a
Welcome back to What's at Risk. I'm Mike Christian Todd
Zion is co founder, president, and CEO of Axton Biosciences.
He has been instrumental in developing the company's key partnerships
(00:24):
around the world. Previously, Todd was president and CEO of
Smart Cells from its founding in two thousand and three
through its sale to Merk in twenty ten. Tod has
received more than forty patents while at MIT, Smart Cells
and Axton Biosciences. Here in a PhD in Chemical engineering
(00:46):
at MIT and graduated from Cornell University summa cum laude
with a Bachelor in Science and Chemical Engineering. Our guest
is Todd Zeon, founder and CEO of Exton Biosciences, located
in Beverly, Massachusetts.
Speaker 2 (01:05):
Todd, how you doing doing well?
Speaker 3 (01:06):
Mike?
Speaker 4 (01:07):
Thanks for having.
Speaker 1 (01:07):
Me, Thank you for joining us. Maybe a good place
to start us to tell our listeners a little bit
about your background.
Speaker 3 (01:13):
Well, professionally, I'm a chemical engineer by training. I did
my undergraduate work back at Cornell University in the nineties
and worked for a couple of years at a company
called Liasman Kodak, and I learned a lot about material
science and polymer engineering there, worked there for a couple
of years and then did my PhD also in chemical
(01:36):
engineering at MIT, and that's what really brought me to
the New England and Massachusetts area, and that was in
the fall of ninety nine, And while I was there,
I got bitten by the entrepreneurship bug, which runs pretty
hot in the Cambridge area and certainly at MIT, and
started a company actually based on my research there, was
(02:00):
called Smart Cells, and we were at that time trying
to develop what we called a smart insulin, so basically
an insulin that knew when it should turn itself on,
for example, after you've had a meal, and maybe even
more importantly, would turn itself off when your blood sugar
dropped back to normal to avoid those dangerous lows that
(02:23):
people can experience with insulin. And so we started that
company two thousand and four, got it off the ground,
went through some ups and downs and near death experiences,
and Merk ended up acquiring that in twenty ten, and
after a brief stint there, my team and I founded
Exton Biosciences, which is the company that I currently preside
(02:45):
over as CEO.
Speaker 1 (02:47):
Now, you had a significant success with Smart Cells and
many people, maybe most people would have rested on their laurels,
but not you. What prompted you to start another biotech
company so quickly after having that big success with smart sales.
Speaker 4 (03:02):
It's a great question.
Speaker 3 (03:03):
I think foolishness certainly factors in, and maybe a little.
Speaker 4 (03:07):
Naivete, but also you know, when.
Speaker 3 (03:10):
That happened, I was in my mid thirties, and I
think we felt we left a lot of ideas and
energy on the table. The team had more to give,
and so it started out kind of gradual.
Speaker 4 (03:23):
We didn't know.
Speaker 3 (03:24):
Exactly what we wanted to do, but we knew we
wanted to work together, and Mark had really bought everything.
So the first order of business was just getting another
lab going and just kind of you know, dusting off
the cobwebs and starting to do research again. And so
that's really kind of how we got into it, and
you know, we've certainly pivoted a few times since then
(03:45):
to our current focus. It's the excitement of coming in
every day and knowing that you're going to exercise that creativity.
Sometimes it's solving problems that you'd rather not have. Other
times it's really just you know, looking at new data,
coming out of experiments and thinking about new medicines, which
has really been the heart of what we've been doing
(04:07):
for gosh, the last couple decades.
Speaker 1 (04:09):
Now now with your current company, Axton, you did focus
a bit in the beginning also on diabetes.
Speaker 2 (04:17):
As am I correct about that you are.
Speaker 3 (04:19):
Yeah, As you might know, in our field, patents and
intellectual property really dominate. So oftentimes medicines take years, a
decade even or more to develop, and so we do
really rely on the fact that once we've invented it,
we get some protection through patents. We had to be
careful in those early days. We did sell a lot
(04:42):
of all of our intellectual property at the time to
Mark but ultimately we did find another way to make
advances in diabetes, and this time was focusing in on
the idea of keeping the insulin so that it would
last a lot longer. So instead of repe bonding very
quickly on demand, we wanted to provide a very flat profile,
(05:04):
not just for a day, but over the course of
a week. And if you know anyone who has diabetes,
you know that whether they're pumping it and constantly worrying
about the pump rate or taking injections, it really does
involve active administration multiple times a day, so really kind
of easing that burden and getting to a long acting
(05:26):
insulin is where we kind of settled for a good portion,
and it was through that actually that we got interested
in veterinary health. Obviously, we know diabetes is having quite
an impact health wise on our human population, both type
one and type two diabetes, but it actually affects our
pets as well. Both dogs and cats get diabetes, and
(05:49):
so thinking about ways in which we could kind of
take the risk out of developing this drug for people,
we thought, geez, why don't we develop versions for dogs
and cats and create a market opportunity there for us,
but also learn a lot about how this can work
in the real world.
Speaker 1 (06:07):
Now, the dogs and cats often referred to as companion animals,
and they include cats and dogs and birds and horses
and guinea pigs, and that all the types of animals
that people keep as pets. And according to a twenty
twenty two National Pet Owners Survey, over seventy percent of
all US households include a companion animal, which seemed crazy
(06:28):
to me. I didn't really realize the number was that high.
What do you think has prompted that incredible growth in
people owning pets.
Speaker 3 (06:35):
There are a number of factors, you know, and just
put numbers on it. So when you think about that
high percentage of households and many of them have more
than one pet, you're talking about over eighty million dogs
in the US and over sixty million cats in the US.
Speaker 4 (06:52):
So the numbers are quite staggering.
Speaker 3 (06:54):
And of course, if anyone goes out to the local
park these days, I'm sure you will see lots of
our four legged friends on leashes. And so I think
your own direct experience really does confirm these numbers. I
think a lot of it does come with increased affluence
and the ability to kind of have families spread their
(07:17):
resources through another way to connect. I think also the
younger generation I know this from my kids who are
in their twenties, absolutely love the idea of having pets
and maybe even almost as a replacement for more serious
relationships or having kids. And so there's an explosion there.
(07:41):
And then of course we can't discount recently the effect
that COVID and the lockdown had, which there really was
you know, sort of pandemic puppies or pandemic pets and
there were a lot of people that went out and
really did that and have learned the joys of ownership
in the last a few years or.
Speaker 1 (07:59):
So from grand View Research, The global companion animal health
market size was estimated at twenty three point eight billion
in twenty twenty three and is projected to grow at
a compound annual rate of over nine percent from twenty
twenty four to twenty thirty owing to increasing pet ownership rates,
(08:24):
rise of pet insurance, growing preference for personalized pet care,
and advancement in animal healthcare technology. More than fifty percent
of the world's population is estimated to own a pet
at home. Advancements in animal health care technology, such as
the development of new diagnostic tools, treatments, and vaccines, have
(08:48):
further propelled the market growth. These technological advancements not only
enhance the quality of care provided to companion animals, but
also contribute to improved outcome and overall patient satisfaction. In addition,
worldwide pet insurance acceptance rates have risen as a result
(09:08):
of the increasing pet humanization and pet ownership in various countries.
According to the North American Pet Health Insurance Association, the
total number of insured pets increased by over seventeen percent
compared to the previous year. So that growth in pet
(09:30):
ownership has sparked a revolution in animal health in terms
of a focus on animal health, and I think Accident
is taking advantage of that. Has the focus on animal
health changed dramatically over the last few years to create
this opportunity. I mean, I know there's a growth in
companion animals, obviously you just talked about that, but it
(09:52):
just seems like there's been also an exponentially greater growth
in the focus on animal health.
Speaker 3 (09:59):
You think that's right, it's correct, and the and and
really the numbers bear that out. I would say I
would take it in a few ways. So first of all,
is on the demand side. I think that people, as
they've taken their pets in and really treated them like
another family member, has created a demand for their care,
(10:21):
which which is really more sort of intense than it
than it's been, you know, certainly than the previous generation.
Speaker 4 (10:30):
So I'll give you an example.
Speaker 3 (10:32):
I mean, you know, I think that uh, pets that
have been diagnosed with cancer, for example, oftentimes the solution
would be unfortunately euthanasia, where they would you know, put
the animal down as as the humane alternative. Now people
are seeking out ways in which I can lessen the
suffering and and and really keep my animal going and healthy.
(10:57):
And so I think that's on the demand side, and
of course on the supply side, I think is just
really animal health benefits tremendously from advances in all of health,
including human health.
Speaker 4 (11:12):
So as this.
Speaker 3 (11:13):
Explosion in new medicines, biologics, antibodies, for example, and if
you turn on your TV you can see advertisements for
a key truda or hum.
Speaker 4 (11:24):
Era or others.
Speaker 3 (11:26):
This is a class of medicine that really twenty five
years ago wasn't prevalent in human health, and since that
time it has shown its ability to treat previously untreated diseases.
And so really we're starting to see that being applied
(11:46):
now to animal health to sort of meet that demand,
that growing demand for better care. And interestingly, Axton finds
itself right at the nexus of this, because well, for
the longest time we've been working with protein medicines like
insulin and other things for human health, and when we
(12:08):
realize just how much of an impact we could make
on animal health, albeit starting with diabetes, we realize, wow,
there's a real opportunity here to really get in much
earlier in what we were sort of calling this revolution
of veterinary health, and it's an exciting time for sure.
Speaker 1 (12:29):
Now for us non experts in this area. What is
the approach that Axton takes in the biologics and the
development of new therapies for animals.
Speaker 3 (12:40):
We have a technology platform that we've developed over the years,
and to really put it at a high level, we
can do two things very well using pretty much the
same technology platform. The first thing is is that we
can make these protein medicines last a lot longer. People
(13:01):
ask this often, why do some medicines have to be injected?
Why why can't every medicine be taken as a pill
or inhaled, And it turns out that protein based medicines,
So think of insulin or growth hormone or antibodies as
I had mentioned, Well, obviously they get digested as you
(13:23):
put them through the stomach and the intestine, and so
they lose their entire structure and can't perform. So that
really the only way to get them efficiently into the
body is to bypass.
Speaker 4 (13:35):
That, and that's usually by injection.
Speaker 3 (13:37):
So what we're trying to do is make sure that
they last a lot longer so that you can cut
down on the number of injections. And so that's on
one end, and then on the other end is we
can get the animals to produce their own medicines against
particular targets, So we can actually get them to make
(13:58):
their own antibodies against target gets, taking advantage of some
of the technology we developed over the COVID pandemic, sort
of a vaccine approach, but against targets that are related
to diseases like chronic pain or dermatitis or these other things. So, yeah,
it's an interesting approach, and it's one that really targets
(14:20):
effectiveness and convenience while keeping the costs down low. And
all those things are important for any medicine, but really
for vetinary health it's really important.
Speaker 1 (14:31):
And it makes it more cost effective for those of
us that own pets.
Speaker 3 (14:35):
Yeah, for sure cuts down on the number of visits
to the vet for sure. Oftentimes the outcomes for the
animals are better, So the sort of the secondary visits,
the long term healthcare is better for the animals. And oftentimes,
for example, in some of our therapeutics for cancer, they're
actually much less expensive than say the surgery type alternatives
(15:01):
that are out there.
Speaker 1 (15:02):
For sure, when you talk about your platform, you can
invent or develop drugs that can address not only diabetes,
but other types of diseases too. For animals and you
mentioned cats or what else would be included.
Speaker 3 (15:16):
Yeah, So we have a sort of we call it
ozebic for cats.
Speaker 4 (15:21):
It treats obesity.
Speaker 3 (15:24):
You know, some people are okay with their cats that way,
but certainly others feel like they could shed a pound
or two. So it works a lot like ozebic does
in people. But this is another thing about when you're
developing these kinds of proteins for pets, you can't take
(15:44):
the human version and just put it into your pat
This is really important to point out. So these proteins
that we're talking about, they will interact, they will cause
the pets immune system to react against it if it's
design for humans. So a human protein doesn't do well
in dogs and cats, and even a dog protein doesn't
(16:07):
do very well in cats and vice versa. So you
have to really pay attention and that you know, our
platform allows us to kind of adapt things quite readily
from human health to animal health. So yes, obesity, cancer,
we also have something for chronic pain, which generally happens
when the animals get osterearthritis, and there's a drug out
(16:30):
there now called the Librella, which is actually an antibody,
and it's.
Speaker 4 (16:34):
Working incredibly well.
Speaker 3 (16:35):
It's quite expensive and one of the problems you got
to go into your vet every month to get an infusion.
So we've got sort of a vaccine that we're developing
that would keep it down to once every six months
or maybe even once a year, playing off on this
convenience factor. And then another is atopic dermatitis. And so
this is you know, I think, okay, well, it's just
(16:58):
animals itching, but if you've ever had a dog or
a cat that gets this sort of condition, they will
scratch to the point where they will open up a wound,
and oftentimes that gets infected and can cause some serious problems.
So those are just to name a few areas that
we're currently working in.
Speaker 1 (17:17):
What's the size of the of the animal health market
just sort of a ballpark.
Speaker 3 (17:22):
Yeah, So the overall animal health is I don't have
the full number, but for Companion Animal Health it's about
twenty five billion dollars a year, which is certainly smaller.
Speaker 4 (17:35):
Than what you would.
Speaker 3 (17:36):
You know, obviously, human pharmaceutical business and market is an
order of magnitude or more larger, but it's not an
insignificant market, and it is growing rapidly each year, I
think with a KAGAR of over a ten percent, so.
Speaker 4 (17:52):
You know it's large and growing.
Speaker 3 (17:54):
Traditionally, veterinary health, say even going back a decade ago,
was really leveraging drugs that were already developed for human
health and then just get repurposed for veterinary health. I
think now that innovation is coming to it, you're going
to see really an explosion and interest as well as
(18:16):
investment as people see this opportunity to bring better health
to companion.
Speaker 1 (18:22):
Animals and for our listeners. They would be able to
as these drugs get introduced and distributed, they would be
able to access them for their pets through their local veterinary.
Speaker 4 (18:34):
That's right.
Speaker 3 (18:35):
That is the current way almost all veterinary medicines are
made available. You know, the industry is starting to evaluate
more direct consumer methods. I think that that's still in
its early days. So yes, you would go to your veterinarian.
They would they would have a supply, they would prescribe
(18:56):
it and sell it there now.
Speaker 1 (18:59):
Exton and Purdue University recently announced a strategic partnership to
treat cancer and ducks. That sounds pretty exciting for XT and.
Speaker 4 (19:08):
It is a little bit sure.
Speaker 3 (19:10):
You know, in cancer therapy, probably the most impactful development
over the last say fifteen years or so has been
in these immune checkpoint inhibitors they're called, which is maybe
just to kind of explain it at high level. So,
(19:31):
cancers are rapidly dividing cells in our bodies and would
normally alert our immune systems to their presence, and our
immune systems would be very well adapted to get rid
of them before they ever took a foothold. But obviously
cancers have evolved to outsmart that, and one of the
(19:55):
ways they do it is through the expression of particular
proteins on their surface that trick the immune system into.
Speaker 4 (20:05):
Into letting it go by.
Speaker 3 (20:07):
And so these are out on the market now for
human cancers, and they've they've shown incredible promise and it's
really time for us to bring those to veterinary health.
And so the team at Purdue had been working on
a dog version of one of these and have some
(20:27):
really incredible research on it, and they were in a
position where they were well funded. They want to run studies,
initially in bladder cancer for dogs, which is very difficult
to treat. It is likely to be treatable with this method,
but they needed someone to help make a large amount
of material under specific quality conditions so that they could
(20:51):
actually run the study.
Speaker 4 (20:53):
And from the early days it acts.
Speaker 3 (20:55):
And we've invested not just in our technology but also
in our manufacturing capabilities, and so when we met up,
they realized, we realized that there was this synergy here
where they had again a protein based technology that's not
too dissimilar from what we're developing on our own, but
we had these capabilities to really help them out. And
(21:18):
so that brought us together in this partnership arrangement where
we have an exclusive option to license and we're supplying
them with the material they need to run this exciting study.
So it's another example of how you can innovate in
this space, and I think how companies like ours can
step in and fill a very important unmet need.
Speaker 1 (21:42):
Yeah, well, it's very validating to have a partner like
Purdue University for sure.
Speaker 3 (21:47):
For sure, and they and their veterinary school obviously is
one of the top in the world and also their
cancer research as well, and so it's it's been really
really great and we it informs back on some of
the research we're doing as well, So yeah, we're super
excited about that.
Speaker 1 (22:05):
So it sounds like Axton is really poised to take
a big leap forward here in the animal health arena.
Speaker 4 (22:11):
We really hope.
Speaker 3 (22:12):
So you know, I think we've certainly got the technical expertise.
I think we have the in house capabilities as well,
and we've got a good pipeline. So one of the challenges,
of course, is that the field is moving so rapidly
that some of the investment infrastructure hasn't caught up to
(22:32):
it yet. So some of the investment infrastructure is thinking
more about animal health and venory health from ten years
ago and not maybe looking forward to what can really
happen over the next five to ten years with some
of these innovations. But I'd rather be ahead of our
time than behind and we'll work through all that of course.
Speaker 1 (22:55):
For our listeners that own animals, and does this all
translate to healthier and obviously healthier animals hopefully animals that
have a longer lifespan too, Yes, for sure.
Speaker 3 (23:08):
I mean, I think that when you look at well diabetes,
for example, which we develop and just recently was sold
to a company called Decra, Obviously, within gosh, I mean
within the first year of diagnosis oftentimes it was you know,
thirty percent or so the animals were euthanized. And some
(23:30):
of that is due to obviously impact on the owner
and burden, but also just the health considerations. And so
we want to obviously extend that life span and reduce
the number of parents that are opting for euthanasia.
Speaker 4 (23:45):
And I think when you look.
Speaker 3 (23:46):
At things like chronic pain, cancer, you're just going it's
going to contribute to longer and.
Speaker 4 (23:52):
We hope more well lived years.
Speaker 3 (23:56):
You know, we're not just looking just prolong life, but
I think quality.
Speaker 4 (23:59):
Of life as well.
Speaker 2 (24:00):
Yeah, that's great, Mike.
Speaker 3 (24:01):
You know I want to point out is that some
of this will feedback onto human health. So you know,
I think that while yes, in some cases we're letting
human health inform on vetinary health, what's really exciting for
us is that as we innovate in veterinary health, we
hope to then bring things back to human health by
(24:22):
so called humanizing some of these therapies and getting them
licensed out to the pharmaceutical industry. So I think that
there's a synergy there as well that could eventually contribute
to benefits in human health.
Speaker 2 (24:34):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (24:34):
So that's interesting because usually it would go the other
way around, right up to sure till now.
Speaker 4 (24:39):
Up till now.
Speaker 3 (24:40):
But I think there is this opportunity to take advantage
of innovation in venory health and let it feed back
into human health.
Speaker 1 (24:47):
Well, we've been speaking with Todd Xeon, founder and CEO
of x and Biosciences. Todd, thank you so much. It
was very informative discussion. Appreciate your insights.
Speaker 4 (24:56):
You're welcome, Mike, thanks for having me.
Speaker 1 (25:08):
Well that's all for this week. I'm Mike Christian inviting
you to join us again next week on What's at Risk.
Also check out our podcast at Wbznewsradio dot iHeart dot com.
Speaker 2 (25:24):
What's on your Mind?
Speaker 1 (25:25):
Send us your thoughts, comments and questions to What's at
Risk at gmail dot com. That's one word, What's at
Risk at gmail dot com. Thank you, A big thank
you to our producer, Ken Carberry of Chart Productions.
Speaker 2 (26:08):
It a
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