Anivive Lifesciences tackles unmet animal health needs
Startup set to launch Valley fever vaccine in 2023
by Mary Guiden
At the recent WVC in Las Vegas, a line of people extended around the two-story booth of Anivive Lifesciences, a pet health startup focused on biotech, artificial intelligence (AI), software and veterinary medicine. The booth offered the latest news on the company’s therapeutics, mechanical bull riding and a chance to get a photo with Rob “Gronk” Gronkowski, four-time Super Bowl Champion and five-time National Football League pro-bowler.
An investor in the startup, Gronkowski has helped to raise awareness about the importance of new pet medicines, including the Valley fever vaccine. Following the convention, Anivive announced on March 1 that the former NFL star committed $1 million to the company to support vaccine development and leading pet charities.
Valley fever a danger to dogs, humans
Wired reported in 2021 that as many as 30 million dogs live in the area endemic for Valley fever. In some Arizona counties, one in 10 dogs develops the disease each year, and it is the No. 1 cause of dogs being surrendered to animal control.
In 2019, there were more than 20,000 cases of humans contracting Valley fever, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Rates are typically highest among people ages 60 and older, and the number of cases reported likely underestimates the true number of Valley fever cases. Tens of thousands more illnesses likely occur and may be misdiagnosed, according to CDC.
A connection formed through LinkedIn
At the WVC, Dylan Balsz, Anivive founder and CEO, and Dr. Dave Bruyette, DVM and chief medical officer, spoke with Veterinary33 about the status of their vaccine development and what else the future holds for the award-winning startup.
Balsz recruited Bruyette through LinkedIn. At the time, the veterinarian was the medical director for VCA Animal Hospital in Los Angeles.
“I couldn’t find anything about him on the Internet and I thought: this is really odd,” said Bruyette, as he chuckled. “We met and the idea of repurposing human therapeutics for animals was interesting to me. Most of the diseases we treat in dogs and cats don’t have an approved drug. Everything is for humans and off label. Because of that, we don’t have as much data as we’d like to have on safety and efficacy.”
Balsz said that since many human therapeutics are being tested on companion animals, why not develop the animal health market to help those animals?
“If you have a cancer drug that works in dogs, and it goes into people, those companies aren’t geared up to sell to veterinarians,” he said. “Our approach has been to use software to identify these potential therapeutics” and bring them to market.
Multiple biologics, therapeutics in the works
In addition to developing the Valley fever vaccine, Anivive is working on an antiviral to treat feline infectious peritonitis (FIP), a viral disease caused by certain strains of a feline coronavirus and a treatment (eBAT) for hemangiosarcoma, one of the more common cancers in dogs.
The Anivive team is incorporating software and research into each stage of the drug development cycle. They have already secured pharmacy distribution licenses in all 50 states in the U.S., which will enable direct-to-veterinarian sales, with a savings of 30 percent off the top, said Balsz.
Bruyette said the lack of approved oncology drugs for companion animals is a big unmet need. Barriers that pet owners experience in finding treatment include expense and the ease of administration.
“If the drug is intravenous, they have to go to a veterinarian, and that adds a lot of cost and time factors,” he said.
Using the company’s software, the team researched cancer drugs for lymphoma, the most common cancer that affects dogs.
“We want something that can be given orally with a novel mechanism of action so that if people want to use it with traditional chemotherapy, they could do that,” he said.
Based on their research, the team discovered that there are 8,000 drugs that are evaluated by regulatory agencies every year in the oncology realm. Their proprietary software whittled that list down to 10 or 15 drugs. Bruyette said they seriously investigate those candidates.
“If there’s something that we like, we start talking with the company about licensing,” he explained.
Company’s products backed by evidence-based research
All the company’s products are backed by science. Bruyette said research on the Valley fever vaccine alone includes up to 30 peer-reviewed articles on the organism, the mutant strain of the organism, animal studies and challenge modeling.
Based on what they’ve discovered so far, Bruyette said that Anivive is being taken seriously by organizations including the National Institutes of Health (NIH).
“In the past, people saw this research as a risky low-reward project,” he said. “Now they’re saying: oh, this company could actually make the vaccine.”
The team plans to use the same manufacturing platform to tackle histoplasmosis, a type of lung infection caused by breathing in spores of a fungus found in bird and bat droppings, and blastomycosis, a fungal infection. Both conditions affect people and animals.
Veterinarians in Arizona, where Valley fever is most prevalent in the U.S., are prepared to use the vaccine once it’s approved.
Bruyette said that there are nearly 600 veterinary practices in the state, and all of them have signed up to receive the vaccine. He’s also already had conversations with Los Angeles public health officials, since the infection is becoming more prevalent in southern California.
“What we’re trying to do at Anivive is a unique thing,” said Bruyette. “We’re really trying to meet unmet needs and bring therapeutics in at a price point that is cost-effective.”
Learn more about clinical trials sponsored by Anivive: https://www.anivive.com/trials
Alexandra Koffler contributed to this story.
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